


To Re-Write Space and Time

by Ambivalence_Forevermore



Series: Enexion and Avengers [3]
Category: MCU, Marvel: Future Fight, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Enexion Chronicles
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, But I'm Willing To Work With Him, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, FUCK endgame, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I can't believe I'm actually doing this, I'm still not over it, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Sad, Still Don't Like Steve, Tony Stark Deserves Better, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, cross-over, fuck you Thanos, the Soul Realm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-02-16 08:18:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18687664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambivalence_Forevermore/pseuds/Ambivalence_Forevermore
Summary: Thanos snaps his finger, and everything is gone. No matter how much they had planned in advance with the Avengers around the world, the Defenders, S.H.I.E.L.D, Captain Marvel and her space friends, and the government, they had failed.With half of their numbers trapped in the soul realm, the Avengers on both sides must work to come up with a plan. The outside world tries to come up with a plan to time travel and get the stones while those within the should realm prepare for the final battle with a few new friends along for the ride.Sequel to 'The Shadows are Just Reflections'.





	1. Collision Course: We All Fall Down

**Author's Note:**

> Wazzup! 
> 
> I'm back with my sequel! Basically, this is going to be Endgame from where we left off the Avengers in 'The Shadows are Just Reflections'. There will be a few more of my OC's (like two that are actually there) and I plan on FIXING THAT BULLSHIT ENDING CAUSE IT'S NOT OKAY!!!!!!!!!
> 
> ANyWhOo, let me know what you guys think!

Tony didn’t understand. It wasn’t supposed to end like this… it wasn’t supposed to all fall apart os miserably. They had all been where They needed to be. Sam, Steve, Rhodey, Natasha, Wanda, Harley, Kamala, and Bruce had all been in Wakanda to protect the mind stone while Clea, Wong, Loki, and the other sorcerer's had fought valiantly with the Defenders to stop another the invasion of New York. Carol and Thor had gone out to find anyone else who could help fight Thanos and had sent the Guardians to Titan before meeting up with Talos and his army to get Thor's new hammer and join the fighting on Earth. It was exactly as it was supposed to go, so why had it failed? 

“Tony…” the voice of Nebula said. 

“I- I don’t understand,” he said, a similar statement echoing in his find as the memory of Peter disintegrating in his arms flashed through his mind. 

Peter. 

Riri. 

Oliver.

The Guardians. 

“We have to go,” Nebula said urgently. Tony just stared blankly down at the dust coating his hands. 

Stephen. 

“Strange,” he said in a choked whisper. Nebula stared at him with a look that he couldn’t place before she grabbed his shoulders and hauled him to his feet. 

“If you want to avenge him, then you need to keep going,” she said. It sounded like something Stephen would have told him. Tony nodded jerkily and stumbled after Nebula as she walked purposefully towards her ship. 

“It’s damaged,” Tony stated. He didn’t even have to turn it on to know that it wouldn't’ get them anywhere useful. 

“We can at least try,” Nebula snapped. Tony wondered idly if Carol would come for them if Carol was even still alive. It was then that he felt a sudden gust of cold wind, and the dust at his feet began to move until the name ‘Frost’ was spelled out before him. So he’d survived. 

“Frost,” he stated. “I take it you weren’t dragged into the void with Oliver?” he asked in a monotone voice. 

‘No’ was the drawn response. ‘I cannot sense him anywhere. He is gone.’ Tony nodded absently and staggered almost drunkenly onto the ship. A cool breeze told him that Frost had followed. 

The repairs to the ship were hard, and Tony knew that they wouldn’t last. As Frost was a spirit and didn't require any oxygen or food, He and Nebula would have enough to last a few more days than expected, but after that, they were done for. Tony couldn’t quite say it was the worst news he’d ever received.

 

Steve stared out at the damage around them, his mind only able to comprehend one thing; how? How had this happened? They had been so close! Shuri had been removing the stone from Vision’s head so that it could be destroyed, and Carol had brought Talos and his army to Wakanda to help fight along with Thor’s new ax, and Rocket and Groot. Everything had gone as planned. 

“Steve, there’s no sign of Wanda or Sam,” Natasha said grimly. Steve squeezed his eyes shut. Bruce stumbled out of the forest, the Hulk-buster suit long gone. 

“Wh-what happened?” he asked. 

“We lost,” Steve said simply. All their heads turned when Okoye appeared. The stricken look on her face telling them all they needed to know about the fate of the King of Wakanda. 

“We need to contact the others,” Rhodey said. “See how many survived. Has anyone heard from the Junior Avengers?” he asked. Steve felt his stomach drop. 

“I’m here,” Kamala said, slowly coming into view. Her eyes stared sullenly ahead, and the child-like innocence and charm that had endeared her to so many of the Avengers was nowhere to be seen. Iron Savior’s with Nakia,” she said hollowly. 

“Alright, someone get a call to New York,” Rhodey said. “I’m gonna try and get in contact with some of our other bases, see how they’re holding up.” Steve pulled out his phone and numbly dialed the number that Clea had told him to call. Each ring sounded magnified, and it took all of his willpower not to drop the phone and fold in on himself. 

“Steve?” Clea asked. She sounded panicked, but at least she was alive. “Steve! Thank the gods! We were fighting and then suddenly everyone just- they just-” 

 

“I know. It happened here too. From what we can tell, it’s happening everywhere. How many of yours are left standing?” He asked, slipping into his ‘team leader’ mode. 

“Wong’s still here, and so’s Loki. About half of our Sorcerers are gone though. Marrabel, Carlos, Chris-” she was cut off by a loud sob. Steve could relate. 

“ANy word from the Defenders?” he asked, not sure if he wants to know. 

“Daredevil checked in a few minutes ago,” Clea sniffed. “Jessica and Luke are gone. Everyone else is fine, though. Just a bit shaken.” Steve nodded. 

“Clea… Wanda’s gone,” he forced himself to say. He flinched at the heart-wrenching sob that came from the other line. 

“I can’t- I’m sorry, I can’t do this right now,” the sorceress choked out before the line went dead. Steve forced his tears back before putting the phone back in his pocket and re-joining the group. 

“Does anyone have contact with Tony?” Carol’s voice asked over the coms. She was at the other side of the battlefield witch what was left of Talos’ forces, the leading Skrull among them. 

“I don’t think so,” Rhodey responded, new panic evident on his face. “I mean, he ended up having to take Ebony Maw’s ship instead of the one he’d built for the trip because they caught Strange, so I doubt that he’s got a radio.” A brief silence descended upon the group. Tony and his team, or whatever was left of them, was stuck up in space with no way to contact Earth. 

“Carol, can you find them?” Steve asked. 

“I can try. There’s a lot of space out there, but I’m using that I can try tracing the energy signature of the stones to see where they were used last besides Earth,” she said. 

“Thank you,” Rhodey said quietly. Carol nodded before turning to Kamala. 

“You gonna be alright?” Kamala nodded but continued to stare firmly at the ground. Carol sighed before turning back to the others. “Head back to the compound and try to figure out who’s left. I’ll see what I can do out there,” she said. 

“I’ll see what’s going on in other galaxies,” Talos said, coming up with some of his soldiers. “We’ll report back if we find anything.” Carol gave the Skrull general a nod before being engulfed in gold and soaring up into the clouds. 

 

~

Stephen woke with a gasp, hand automatically reaching for the time stone only to find it missing. He scrambled to hi feet and looked around, hand grabbing frantically at his chest. 

“Tony?” he called. ‘Tony, are you there?” he asked. He seemed to be in a shallow pool, an orange light glimmering around him. 

“Dr. Strange?” a voice asked. He spun on his heel to see Riri standing behind him, her faceplate lifted, but her repulsors ready to fire. “Where are we- what’s going on?” she asked. 

“Riri?” came Oliver’s voice as he slowly sat up from the water. “Dr. Strange, where are we?” he asked. “I… I can’t feel Frost,” he said. “Oh god, I can’t feel Frost He’s gone!” 

“Oliver, I need you to calm down. If you can’t feel him, then it means that he survived the snap,” Stephen explained. 

“So that means that we’re dead?” the ex-assassin asked quietly. 

“For now, yes,” Stephen replied. It also means that things are probably about to get a lot more crowded, he said. Right on cue, the Guardians all came into view. 

“Groot!” the half-human called. “Oh hey, it’s sorcerer-guy!” 

“Dr. Strange,” Stephen said in the introduction. 

“Oh no, not another one obsessed with fake names,” Drax grumbled. 

“It’s not fake, that’s just his name,” the voice of Peter Parker said. They all turned to see the Spider-man walked slowly towards them, eyes downcast and feet dragging. Stephen felt his eyes widen. When he had disintegrated away, Peter had been fine! His powers must have made it take longer for him to fade away. 

“Spider-Boo!” Riri exclaimed, running over to her fellow Junior Avenger. “I thought you were okay, you were supposed to be okay!” she said. 

“My healing factor just made it take longer than it was supposed to,” he replied, his voice void of emotion. “Tony’s still alive, and so’s Nebula,” he said, looking up at Stephen. “I’m not sure for how long though. They don’t have a ride or any workable communication with the others back home.” His voice broke on the last few words, and Riri pulled him into a hug. 

“Alright, who’s here so far?” Oliver asked with a shuddering breath. “We’ve got Strange, Spider-man, and Ironheart. Groot, Quill, Mantis, and Drax. How many more people do you think are gonna show up I mean, will it be half of the universe shoved into one pool?” he asked. Stephen’s brow furrowed and he slowly shook his head. 

“I don't’ think so. From What I can tell, we’re currently in the soul realm, which means that we are under the infinity stones domain. I think that they're putting us together because they want us together. For whatever reason, they want all of us to be able to communicate.” Oliver nodded; it made more sense then shoving billions of creatures into one tiny pond. 

“Stephen?” a voice asked. The sorcerer turned to see Wanda standing behind him, a light red glow surrounding her. There were tear tracks on her cheeks, and he looked exhausted. 

“Wanda!” he exclaimed. So the universe wanted her there too. Interesting. 

“He’s gone,” she whispered. Stephen squeezed his eyes shut. He had a feeling he knew who she was talking about. “Shuri almost had the stone out of his head, but it was a trick. It’s my fault, I went out onto the field and left them undefended,” she was saying. 

“Woah, Woah, Woah, what do you mean?” Oliver asked, not following the conversation at all. 

“Thanos’ army had these giant machines that were powering through our troops. I knew that I could stop them if I went out and used my magic. It was a trap the whole time to get me away from Vision and Shuri so that Corvus could steal the mind stone,” she explained. ‘I had to- to-” she began only to break off into a sob. After a few deep breaths she looked back up at Stephen and the look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. 

“You had to destroy the stone while it was still connected to Vision,” he said. Wanda nodded. 

“I did it. I destroyed the stone and held Thanos back, but he already had the time stone. It was useless, he just brought it back and ripped it out of his head,” she whispered. Stephen sighed. He had known that this was going to happen, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. 

“Do you know who else got dusted?” Riri asked, arms still wrapped tightly around Peter. 

“I’m not sure,” Wanda replied. “I think Sam might have; I heard Rhodey calling for him. T’Challa too.” 

 

“Yes, I am here,” the king said, appearing from the water. “As is Barnes, Shuri, and Wilson.” Wanda forced back more tears as she looked around at the assembled heroes, her eyes landing on Oliver. 

“Oliver, is Frost with you?” she asked. The assassin shook his head.

“We’re guessing that he survived the snap. He most likely is lacking a corporeal form at the moment,” he explained. Wanda nodded. 

“I can still feel his imprint on you I have a feeling that whatever magic he used to keep your soul together when he was bonded with you is still in effect. It was small comfort to know that a part of Frost was still with him. He wondered if the winter spirit knew as well. 

The group couldn’t find any other signs of life. The pool wasn’t endless, and so they waded into the brownish orange ground to sit down and try and get their bearings. It was decided that Dr. Strange’s theory that they were trapped inside the soul stone was correct Shuri ran a scan and matched the energy signature to that of the mind stone. All of her devices still worked as they should, but they were unable to communicate with the land of the living. Whenever they tried they came up with only static. 

Small groups were formed, friends huddling together and whispering quietly to each other as they tried to clear their heads. Stephen, T’Challa, Bucky, and Shuri all sat in circle trying to figure out where they had gone wrong while Sam and the Guardians compared the battles of Titan and Wakanda. Oliver, Riri, Peter, and Wanda sat curled around each other, all wondering if their fellow Junior Avengers had made it out okay. There had been no sign of Kate, Kamala, or Harley and so they hoped that that meant they had survived. 

“Oliver,” Wanda asked quietly, “do you remember any of the stories that Frost would tell?” Oliver was quite for a second before nodded. 

“Yeah, I even know some of the ones he didn’t tell. Since our minds were linked, some of his memories got transfer to mine,” he explained. 

“Could you tell us one?” Peter asked. Oliver shifted to sit up a bit straighter, and Peter adjusted accordingly so that his back was pushed against the ex-assassins shoulder. 

“I guess, but I doubt that I’m as good a storyteller as he was,” Oliver said. Riri wrapped an arm around his and Wanda’s shoulders and shrugged. 

“Do you really think that we’re gonna care? You’re literally our only source of entertainment,” the iron-clad hero said. Oliver nodded. 

“Okay then… what do you wanna hear about?” He wasn’t sure how many stories the others had heard. He often got the conversations that happened when Frost was in control mixed up. All he knew was that Wanda had heard the most. 

“Can you tell us some more about that mage guy… Silver something?” Peter asked, showing the most excitement out of all of them combined. 

“You mean Silven Drascoue?” Oliver asked. Upon seeing Peter’s enthusiastic nod and smiled slightly and thought back to the earliest story Frost had told him. Yes, that would work. 

 

“Well, it all started on Frost’s homeworld, Enexion. It’s a planet many galaxies away that isn’t too different from Earth. They too have very powerful nations that are always at war with each other. However, unlike Earth, their strongest weapons are often mages. The Enexion version of a sorcerer. Silven Drascoue was one such being. He would end up being known as the most powerful mage in Mirval, one of the strongest nations on Enexion,” Oliver explained. 

“He’s the one who told Frost the things that he used to help me levitate the pencil, right?” Wanda asked. Oliver nodded. 

“He was one of three powerful beings. The other two were from the nation of Ferwan. They were his lover, Mestin Garmage, and their best friend, Emilia Corvell. Like Silven, Mestin was highly powerful and would presumably one day be made into a leader of his nations mages. Emilia was not technically a mage. She possessed only one magical gift, but it was powerful.”

“What was it?” Riri asked, enraptured by the story. 

“She could shift into the spitting image of the one you loved most. Her training allowed her to turn it on and off, but she proved very useful in a fight. No one wants to hurt the one they love the most. They were inseparable, the three of them. It seemed like nothing could pull them apart. Until something did.” Oliver looked down sadly as he spoke. From Frost’s memories, he knew how broken the trio had become. It was painful to revisit, and Oliver hadn’t even been there in person. 

“A war broke out between Mirval and Ferwan. Both sides demanded the presence of their mages on the battlefield, and so Silven returned to Mirval, and Mestin and Emilia returned home to Ferwan. Both parties believed that they were doing what had to be done for the greater good,” Oliver said with a shake of his head. 

“I never met Silven in person, but from Frost’s memories, I can tell he was someone that would have made a good Avenger. He was willing to sacrifice everything for his people. Even his greatest love. In all my years at Hydra, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who harbored so much hurt in them. From what I’ve seen of Frost’s memories, I don’t think he has either. Well, maybe Jax, but-” 

“Who’s Jax?” Peter asked. Oliver frowned slightly, unsure of how to explain. 

“That’s a story for tomorrow,” he replied. “Do you think that we can sleep in this place?” he asked. Riri shrugged. “I mean, we don’t have to eat or drink, so I don't’ think that it’s a requirement,” she replied. 

“I guess we can just try and hope that it works,” Wanda answered. With that, she got comfortable between Riri and Oliver and closed her eyes against the orange light of the soul realm. 

~

The first thing he was aware of was water swishing gently around his head. His limbs felt heavy, as though he’d exerted a large amount of energy in one go. He groaned as he slowly sat up and blinked his hazel eyes open only to see orange everywhere he looked. Slowly he got to his feet and looked around, his boots sloshing in the shallow water. 

A memory flickered across his mind, and he latched onto it before it could pass onward. He remembered being at his house in Ciine when suddenly there had been a surge of energy, and then nothing. 

 

“Is this death?” he asked no one in particular. “Have I passed on to the great goddess?” he slowly began to walk forward, a silver light crawling up his arms and engulfing his hands in energy. As he reached the shore the universe tensed in anticipation. 

Silven Drascoue was awake.


	2. Collision Course: The Shadow Wielder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The infinity stones are getting hyped, Everyone is worried about Tony, Stephen is a master spy, Clint has gone off the deep end, and the dusted Avengers meet a figure from Frost's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back! In this chapter, we will meet one of the characters that is in my preview for this story, so get excited! Don't have much to say about this chapter except that I realize that I forgot to mention that the name 'Silven' is pronounced 'Sil-wen' because I came up with it in Latin class, and 'v's are 'w's in Latin.

“Peter, wake up,” some was saying, shaking him urgently. The hero groaned and attempted to roll away from whoever was disturbing his sleep, but it seemed that they would not be perturbed. “Peter,” they said, this time reproachful. Slowly he blinked his eyes open and sat up, rubbing at his eyes dazedly. 

“Wha?” he asked with a yawn. He looked up to see Wanda standing over him. 

“Something's happening, we aren't sure what yet, but Dr. Strange said to get everyone alert,” she explained. Peter looked around to see that something was indeed happening. The light around them was swirling around itself in a way that looked almost like excitement, and small ripples were shooting across the water. 

“Dr. Strange, what’s happening?” he asked, scrambling to his feet. He could feel his spider-sense going off, but it had been ever since the dusting and so it wasn’t much to go by. 

“We aren’t sure,” the sorcerer replied. “Mantis, are you getting anything?” 

“Everything seems to be normal,” she replied, the tips of her antennae glowing slightly as she reached out with her power to try and find any clue as to what was going on. 

“Oliver,” Wanda was saying, slightly shaking the hero who immediately snapped to attention. “Come on we need to get up, something's going on.” Dr. Strange was about to say something else when Mantis interrupted him. 

“There’s much excitement. They are anticipating something very important,” she said. They all looked around nervously. 

“Who’s ‘they’?” Stephen asked carefully. Mantis looked up at him with wide eyes. 

“I am not sure. I believe that it is best if we trust them,” she stated. 

“Why the Hell would we do that?” Quill exclaimed. Sam nodded in agreement. 

“I… do not know. I believe that we should trust them though. They know what is happening, and it is all going according to their plan.” 

“And why do we want to be a part of their plan?” Sam challenged. 

“Because they want us to defeat Thanos,” Mantis replied simply. They all stared at Mantis and then at the shifting light around them. Its anticipation seemed to be building, and no one could decide whether that was good or bad. 

“Wanda, can you feel anything?” Stephen asked. Wanda closed her eyes and reached out towards the light around them. She was immediately hit with a rush of power pushing back at her, and it took all of her strength to stand your ground against the onslaught. She began trying to weave her way through it, pulling it apart with her own magic to try and see what else there was. 

“Damn,” Riri said as red engulfed Wanda and began to shoot out in the orange light. It glittered a soft red unlike it’s previous, harsh, scarlet. They watched as Wanda’s power stretched and contracted amongst the orangey glow which seemed to be trying to push it back. It lashed out one final time at the orange light before falling back and disappearing back into Wanda. 

“It doesn’t want us leaving,” she said as she opened her eyes. “It let me see though, I could see the compound for a moment, but I couldn’t hold it. I- it was too strong,” she said. 

“Were you seeing it in real time?” T’Challa asked. Wanda nodded. “They were all there, what has left of them anyway. I-” she cut herself off, looking up at Stephen with a strange expression on her face. “I didn't see Tony,” she whispered. Stephen felt his throat go dry. 

“He’s not back yet?” he asked. Wanda shook her head. Stephen felt the world lurch, and he nodded to himself, forcing himself to keep standing. 

“W-wait, Mr. Stark is still in space?” Peter asked nervously. Stephen looked back at him and noticed once again how young he looked. Stephen could only nod once before striding away from the main group, rapidly blinking in an attempt to keep the burning behind his eyes at bay. 

Peter watch Stephen walk away and turned back towards the others. T’Challa looked worried while Wanda looked completely lost. 

 

“Did you see anything else?” Shuri asked. She hadn’t liked Wanda when the witch had been staying in Wakanda, but she seemed different now. Peter and Riri seemed to like her now, so Shuri was willing to give her a chance to prove herself. 

“Okoye was there, and so were a good number of the Defenders, though a Jessica and Luke were missing. Steve was alive as well. So were Kamala, Harley, and Kate. I- I didn’t ee Carol though.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense, wouldn't’ Carol be here if she had been dusted too?” Riri asked. 

“Maybe she had to help people on other planets, I mean Earth wasn’t the only one affected,” Shuri pointed out. 

“Let’s hope so,” Wanda replied. “Thor and Loki are still kicking, and I think I saw the talking raccoon. Rhodey currently seems to be leading everyone, and Wong and Clea are handling the sorcerers.” The others nodded. 

“I guess all we can do is hope that it turns out okay,” Bucky said. 

 

Stephen sat huddled against a large boulder, magic wrapping around him. He steadied his breathing and began to reach out with his magic. He focused on one small spot in the soul realm and began to force his way through. “Show me, Tony,” he thought as he tore through the orange light. He steadied his mind and found himself in what looked to be a space ship. He could hear voices coming from what looked to be an engine room and quickly hurried towards them. 

“This isn’t going to hold, Tony,” a woman’s voice said. “And even if it does, we’ll be out of oxygen in a couple of days.” 

“As you said, we have to try,” came the gruff reply. And even if we go down, Frost doesn’t need air. He’ll survive,” Tony said. S

Stephen rounded a corner and found himself watching as Tony and the blue woman that had fought Thano with them on Titan worked. He was pretty sure he was called Nebula. With his magic, he could sense Frost as well, though he was unable to see the hostless spirit. Tony looked worn down as he worked on the engine, and Stephen reached out to grab his shoulder only for his hand to go straight through it. 

“We’ve gotta fix this, this can’t just be the end!” Tony growled, slamming his tools down. “We can’t just leave them all- Stephen and Peter-” he said, all words failing. Nebula watched with a troubled expression. 

“Who were they?” she asked. Tony looked up. 

“Who?” he asked flatly. 

“Stephen and Peter,” Nebula replied. “I’ve heard you mention Riri and Rhodey a lot too. When you’re having nightmares or think that no one can hear you, there the names you say the most,” she said. Tony took a deep breath and sighed. 

“They were… they were my family. Peter and Riri were trainees of sorts. Rhodey was my best friend. Stephen was- he was-” but he couldn’t finish the sentence. Nebula watched as Tony banged his head against the wall. She could offer no comfort, and he didn’t want any. 

“They’re all going to come back. Even if we aren’t around to see it, the others will bring them back,” she said quietly. Orange was beginning to cloud Stephen’s vision. He struggled to maintain his location, but the soul realm was too strong. 

“Strange!” Riri’s voice called as he opened his eyes with a snap. “What are you doing?” she asked. Stephen sighed. 

“I was looking through the soul realm like Wanda did. Tony is still is space along with Nebula and Frost,” he said. The others began to make there way over upon hearing what he’d seen. 

“Is Mr. Stark okay?” Peter asked. Stephen shook his head. 

“It isn’t looking good, Peter,” he said. “They’re stuck in space, and the oxygen is going to be out in a few days. Unless they can pull off the impossible… Their chances for survival are slim,” he finished, his throat constricting as he said it. Wanda covered her mouth, and Peter and Riri’s eyes filled with tears. Oliver and T’Challa shared a careful look and Bucky star determinedly at the ground. Even the Guardians felt a stab of sadness, and they didn't particularly like Stark. Sam sighed and stepped forward. 

“I don't’ know about you, but I think we need to figure something out, whether they make it or not. Strange, do you have anything for us?” he asked. Shuri nodded in agreement. 

“The Falcon is right. They will not die in vain, it is our duty to avenge them, right?” she said. The others nodded in agreement and Stephen straightened. 

“Before the battle on Titan, I looked into over 14 million futures. There is only one that I saw that we won. From everything that is going on in here, we’re on the right course. If Tony dies though… he is necessary to our success. If he goes down, then it’s over. For all of us,” he said. They let that sink in and looked around at the pulsing orange light. 

“What about this? Wanda asked, gesturing around them. “Was the universe doing this in any of your visions?” Stephen shook his head. 

“No, I never saw this. I believe that something that happened might have created another possible victory. It won't matter if Tony dies, though. He is still necessary to any plan we make,” he replied. Wanda nodded. 

“Alright,” Oliver said. “So what is this one victory?”

 

~

 

Natasha watched the footage in front of her, unwilling to accept what she was seeing but unable to deny it. It had been Rhodey who had alerted her to the rise of Ronin. It hadn’t taken them long to figure out who it was. Given how much was going on across the globe, no one was really concerned with a vigilante killing mobsters, but it mattered to Natasha. It mattered because it wasn’t who Clint was. He was bad jokes and arrows, not swords and tattoos. 

“Nat, what do you wanna do about this?” Rhodey asked. He had mostly taken over as the leader in the absence of Carol, Tony, and T’Challa, but she could tell that he was giving her free reign over the Ronin situation. 

“I’m not sure,” she said. There was a moment of silence. “Have you tried contacting Scott and Hope?” she asked. The two shrinkers had not been with the other heroes in Wakanda as they had been dealing with their own problems. No had heard from them since. 

“I’ve tried multiple times, but they're not answering,” Rhodey said with a sigh. Scott’s family hasn’t heard anything either, so I think that it’s safe to say that he’s not coming back. Natasha shook her head. “Has Carol checked in at all?” Rhodey asked. 

“Not a word. I’m guessing she’s still looking, but I wouldn’t hold out to much hope,” he said. 

“Hey, don't’ say that. We both know Tony’s one resilient bastard. If Thanos couldn't’ kill him, I doubt that space will be his doom,” she said, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. Rhodey sighed It seemed people had been doing a lot of that lately. 

“How are the sorcerers?” Rhodey questioned. “Last I checked, they were searching for any sign of what happened to the people that got dusted.” 

“They are, but they don’t have much hope for success. They just want to cover every possibility. The loss of Stephen hit them hard though, and Clea misses Wanda. Apparently, Scarlet Witch had quite a few friends at the sanctum,” Natasha said. 

“Natasha, Rhodes,” Steve said as he entered the room. “I did what you asked, and it seems that not many governments have released any sort of census. Most governments are in disarray, but from the places that have tried for a head count, it’s come about the same. Half the populations are just gone.” 

“Just like he said they’d be,” Natasha whispered. 

“Keep an eye on the counts,” Rhodey said. “I’ve been in contact with our other bases around the world, and it seems that the trauma of the snap has introduced us to a few more enhanced people. I guess the mental shock brought forth powers they didn’t know they had. The council has agreed to temporarily suspend the accords signing until we get a proper headcount.” 

“Any staying here?” Natasha asked. 

“No, it’s mostly farther away from New York. A few in Asia and Europe, so there are other, closer, bases,” Rhodey explained. “Are the Defenders running a patrol right now?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” Natasha responded. 

“Great, I think I might join them,” he said. “I need to get out of here for a bit.” The two watched him walk quickly out of the room. 

“He still doesn’t like me,” Steve said. 

“Would you?” Natasha shot back. Steve shook his head in annoyance. She was right, but he didn’t have to agree. “We’re gonna need to figure out this whole ‘Clint’ thing,” she said quietly. “I honestly don’t know what to do. Laura and the kids are gone along with half the universe. What motivation could I possibly offer him?” Steve was quiet for a moment before responding. 

“We need to give him time. Then, once we have a plan, we approach him. If we can’t bring his family back, then the least we can do is avenge them,” Steve said. Natasha gave no response. 

~

 

Frost sat perched on the back of one of the chairs in the cockpit. He had sensed it when Dr. Strange’s soul had made contact with the ship, but he knew better than to tell the others. Getting there hopes up would accomplish nothing. His knowledge of the universe was not all that vast, but he knew more about its inner workings than Tony and Nebula. He knew that letting them in on the existence of the soul realm would not help matters. Things were already in motion. He best not mettle. 

He looked up when he heard someone else enter the room. He watched as Tony looked around and then sat in the chair beside him. The man looked worn out, and Frost could tell he’d already accepted the end. 

“Hey Frost,” he said. “I have a feeling that you're in here given that its at least ten degrees colder here than anywhere else,” the mechanic explained. Frost iced over the back of the chair he was on and wrote the word ‘yes’ in the ice. Tony sighed. 

“I just wanted to thank you. For saving me in Siberia, that is,” he said. “God, that was ages ago now, wasn’t it? I remember when that was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. Now it’s just…” he gestured hopelessly around the cabin. 

“You’re gonna be alone in here for a while,” Tony said eventually. “I want you to know that you don’t have to preserve our bodies or anything. Just dump them out into space, I can assure you that we won’t mind. Can you just… I left a few messages for some people in my helmet. Do you think you can bring that back for me?” Tony asked. Frost watched the man curiously before writing another ‘yes’ on the seat. Tony nodded and took a shuddering breath. 

“You’re a great guy, Frost. I know that you’ll make a great Avenger too. I hope that- I hope that you find whatever it is you're looking for. What you couldn’t find on your home world.” Frost looked down in confusion. He had never been good at ‘emotions’ and didn’t understand many of them. What he did understand was what it was like to feel unsatisfied. Empty. Perhaps that's what Tony was referring to? 

“Well, I’ve gotta go teach Nebula some more games. You can come if you want. Or chill here. I guess I wouldn’t really know either way,” Tony said as he got up. Frost waited a moment before following him out. If he really only had one day left with the man, then he wasn’t going to waste it. 

 

~

Wanda sat perched on a small rock formation, Oliver sitting beside her with Peter on his left. There was very little in the lane of entertainment in the soul realm, and so they had resorted to throwing rocks at the orange light and seeing who could get the biggest reaction out of the pulsing energy. So far it had been Riri, but only because she’d blasted it with her repulsors at the same time. 

“Hey Oliver, has why don’t you tell Peter about Jax?” Wanda suggested, so far beyond done with watching rocks hit the light. 

“Sure,” he said with a shrug. “Jax’s story begins around the same time as Silven’s, but she was on Ciine, a small island kingdom right in between Ferwan and Mirval. She was a peasant woman nothing more but another mouth to feed in the eyes of her family. Many people claimed that she was some sort of demon, and they may have been right. It was as though a part of her soul as just not there. She was distant and rarely spoke. If someone were to anger her she would lash out viciously.” 

“She sounds like Riri in the morning,” Peter said. 

“I heard that!” Riri called over from where she was sitting a little ways off. 

“Anyway, her family didn’t want her. So when Supreme Morgalith of Ferwan offered to buy her from them with enough money to feed them for three years, they had no qualms with parting with her. An important thing to know about Morgalith was his obsession with magical experimentation. He had been born with powers that Enexion had never seen before, and was desperate to create more anomalies such as himself.” 

“And he thought that he could do this with Jax?” Peter asked. Wanda nodded. Frost had told her this story early on as he felt it was quite similar to Wanda’s own. 

“Yes. All his other attempts had failed, but he saw something within Jax, or should I say, missing from within her. The village people had been right about one thing; Jax had no soul. So when Morgalith attempted to force magic into her, it worked. It worked a bit too well if you ask me, and I do believe that when all was said and done, Morgalith was afraid of what he had created.” 

 

“Why?” Peter asked, enraptured by the tale. 

“Beings without souls are inherently drawn towards darkness,” Dr. Strange interrupted, floating over. “IF my guess is correct, the powers ended up far more violent than this ‘Morgalith’ wanted them to be,” he said. Oliver nodded. 

“He had been attempting to create a mage that could manipulate reality. Instead, he created something far more powerful. Jax can manipulate darkness. Shadows are drawn to her, and she can use them for anything she pleases. On Enexion she is known as the ‘Shadow Wielder’. They are horrible powers, and they can’t be controlled. Morgalith had to exercise a great amount of his own power to bind them to her and her mind so that they wouldn’t get out. Should the darkness os desire, it could devour all of the universes and then keep going.” 

“Well that’s horrifying,” Peter said. Dr. Strange nodded, his brow furrowed. He had often felt distant pulses of dark energy but had never been able to locate the source within their galaxy. Could this ‘Jax’ be the cause? 

“Stephen,” Wanda said, pulling him from his thoughts. She was tugging on his sleeve and staring straight ahead. “I think that whatever the soul realm was so excited about is happening.” He looked not where she was starting to see some sort of shadow moving amongst the orange energy. The others were beginning to notice too. T’Challa put his helmet back on while Riri snapped down her faceplate. Sam’s falcon wings expanded, and Bucky powered up his blaster. 

As the shadow got closer, they saw it was the form of a young woman. Her skin was deathly pale and there was a jagged scar over her lips. She looks malnourished, and Stephen could make out the shape of the bones in her face from how underweight she was. She was dressed in all black armor that seemed to shift and move around her, and she held a scythe that looked about the same. Stephen could feel a dark power radiating from her form, and from the way Wanda's eyes widened, he could tell that she could feel it too. 

Shadows throated at her feet, and reached out to the orange energy, seeming to test its strength against them. Her head tilted like a bird's as she looked around her, her black eyes jumped from each of their faces before landing on Oliver. She strode over to him quickly, looking at Stephen and Wanda in confusion when they blocked her path. The shadows shot out from around her feet and curled around them to keep them in place as she passed. 

“Orûk,” she said. Her voice was hoarse from disuse, and she spoke barely above a whisper. 

“I’m sorry, but he isn’t here,” Oliver responded, eyes wide. “You’re Jax, aren’t you,” he said. “Jax Simone. The Shadow Wielder.” She looked at Oliver with the same blank expression before summoning the shadows that were holding Wanda and Stephen back with a flick of her hand. 

“You carry the magical imprint of Orûk of the Winter on your soul. You must be a friend,” she said finally. “Where is Orûk?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late May-the-Fourth!


	3. Collision Course: A Second Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Nebula's last few moments in space, Tony yells at Rogers, Intro to Jax Simone, Peter deserves better, and Frost isn't as alone as he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry, I haven't updated in a while, I've been dealing with some personal issues on top of the fact that I was throwing up sick all of last week but still had to go to school. I'm here now though, so enjoy your update!

Frost watched as Nebula half carried and half dragged Tony into the cockpit and laid him to rest facing the stars. The assassin herself went back to the engine room and checked the oxygen one last time before sighing and sitting down at the table where she and Tony had been playing their game only a few hours earlier. Frost would be surprised if they even had a few hours left. He tightened his hold on Tony’s helmet. 

“So Frosty, I take it Tony spoke with you earlier?” she asked. Frost nodded, though he knew she couldn’t see. He had a feeling that she wasn’t looking for a response anyway. “I know that there’s no way of knowing what comes next after… what comes next. I just want you to know that if we can watch over anything that happens once we’re gone, we’ll be betting on you, snowman,” she said. “Don’t fail us.” With that, she curled on her side and closed her eyes. 

Frost wandered the ship aimlessly as Tony and Nebula waited for death, he himself not quite knowing what to do. He knew that he was supposed to be feeling high emotions at this point, but they just didn’t come. They hadn’t for a long time now, but it still felt wrong when he felt only nothing when others were so miserable. He ended up standing beside Tony’s seat and watching the stars from out of the large window. The spirit's eyes narrowed as the space around them began to glow gold, and he jumped back from the window as a bright light shot towards them. Tony grumbled in his sleep and began to stir, the light waking him from his slumber. His eyes widened as he looked out the window to see none other than Carol Danvers in front of him. 

Tony and Nebula both stared out the window as Carol carried their ship back to Earth at light speed, and Frost nodded to himself. Two more major players back on the board, along with the confirmation of Carol’s survival. This was good. On Enexion, he had been the spymaster for Mirval. It was his job to know what to do and make plans in situations such as the one he now found himself in. His thoughts raced in his mind as they stumbled off the ship. 

“Tony!” Pepper said, running up to embrace the man. “Tony, I was so worried, I-” 

“I lost them, Pepper,” he said brokenly. “The kids, they’re gone. I failed them. And Stephen is-” he cut himself off with a sob and Pepper held him closer. Nebula stayed at the back and sat on the ship's ramp. Frost watched as the talking raccoon joined her and tentatively took her hand. 

“Tony,” the voice of Steve Rogers said, but the other man ignored him. Good, Frost thought. While he knew that working with Rogers would be non-negotiable, he was still furious on Oliver’s behalf. Now that his host was dead, Frost was going to have to be angry for two people. 

 

They all sat in the compound’s conference room, and Tony felt a lump form in the back of his throat as he took in how small their group now was. He remembered having to build in extra chairs for the junior Avengers. Now half of the chairs weren’t in use. 

“Tony, you fought Thanos on Titan. Did he give you any hints? Any possible clues as to where he would go?” Steve asked. Tony felt the urge to punch the other man flow through him but forced it down. 

“I didn’t fight him,” he said instead. “I got my ass kicked along with everyone else, it wasn’t a fight. It was annihilation.” 

“Tony, I highly doubt that that’s true-”

“Yeah, it fucking was, Steve!” he shouted. “You of all people should remember how good I am at that! We went in with a plan, something went wrong, and I almost ended up dead! So no, I don't have anything of use to offer you! I have nothing left to offer you!” he screamed. He clawed at the arc reactor in his chest until he felt his hands pinned to the table and looked up to see Nebula standing over him. 

“Calm yourself,” she said. It was the last thing Tony saw before everything went black. 

 

“Is he going to be alright?” Natasha asked as she watched Tony sleep, his vitals being read on the screen beside him. 

“He’s in shock,” Rhodey said. “We have him under sedation for the time being. He’ll be alright.” They lapsed into silence before Natasha turned back to Steve. 

“I think it would be best if, for the time being, you keep your distance,” she said. “You aren’t exactly his favorite person, and I doubt that a reminder of old trauma will help him handle the new stuff,” she spoke softly but her expression was clear; stay back, or I end you. Steve nodded and left the room. 

“According to Nebula, Frost is back too,” Rhodey said. “Oliver’s dead though, so he’s without a host.” Natasha hummed. 

“He’ll probably still be useful to us. Even if he can’t physically fight, his mind is that of a war strategist and spy. He isn’t exactly a liability.” Rhodey nodded. 

“Carol and I are gonna go over what we have so far and then call a meeting. I’m gonna guess it’ll take a few hours, so try and be in the conference room bright and early,” he said. Natasha nodded. She doubted that she’d be able to sleep, but she could at least see what was going on in the rest of the world. 

Rhodey headed down to where Carol was waiting in the conference room. A slight chill in the air told him that Frost was listening as well. 

“Alright, what have we got from space?” he asked. 

“Talos is currently with his own people to see how bad the damage is, but he’s going to send in daily updates. From what we saw, it’s the same all around. Everything is broken, and planets are in chaos. I’m going to have to be in and out a lot from now on. Earth isn’t my only charge,” she said. Rhodey nodded. 

“I haven't seen any sign of Thanos either. It’s like he just fell off the grid. From what I can tell, he’s still alive though. If he weren't, then I would have been able to pick up the stone’s signal. Clearly, he’s masking them somehow,” Carol concluded. 

“Well things here are about as bad as they look,” Rhodey said. “Everyone lost someone, and the world governments are in chaos. Half of the accords council and Avengers Initiative aren’t even here anymore. We haven't heard anything from Scott or Hope, and Clint is currently running around the world with a sword committing mass murder. Things aren’t exactly working in our favor. We’ve got so many problems here, I don’t know how we’re gonna leave to fight Thanos.” 

“Well we’re gonna have to figure it out soon, because we can’t have him regaining strength,” Carol said. “If worst comes to worst, we leave some people here and have Wong and Clea portal them up when needed.” They continued to throw out ideas, all of which were hopeless. By the time dawn came, they still had nothing. 

 

~

 

Peter watched the Shadow Wielder wearily. She was staring at Oliver intently as he told the story of him and Frost, and Peter couldn’t tell whether she was planning on attacking him, or just listening very hard. Stephen hadn’t taken his eyes off of the woman ever since she arrived and Wanda’s magic was pulsing around her. As Oliver finished summing up what happened with Thanos, Jax nodded to herself before turning towards the rest of them. 

“So we are trapped in the soul realm,” she said. “I don’t have a whole soul, so why am I permitted here?” she asked. Stephen stepped forward at that, and Jax shifted into a battle stance at the sudden movement, the darkness swirling protectively around her. 

“I believe I can answer your question, Ms. Simone,” he said. She slowly lowered her scythe. “The universe wants us to undo what Thanos did to it. To us. Clearly, you are required for that to happen, and so you have been brought here. Given your affinity for darkness, I’m guessing you were sent to the dark dimension after the snap?” he asked. There was a sharp nod in response and Stephen continued. “It must have taken a lot of power to drag you out, so you must be important. Is there anything that the universe told you? Mantis here was told that it was anticipating something. Did you get any similar messages?” Jax stared at a spot above the sorcerer's shoulder for a moment before responding. 

“I awoke here with the thought that I wanted Silven Drascoue. I thought it was a strange thought to be having as I am not a friend of Silven’s. An ally when the occasion calls for it, yes, but not a friend.” Stephen nodded. 

“Could you summon him here? If you wanted?” 

“I suppose I could try,” she said. “I’m too tired right now. I want to sleep,” she said. Wanda stepped forward, and Jax’s head snapped up. 

“I can show you where we usually sleep,” she said. Jax eyes her carefully before nodding and allowing herself to be lead away. Peter relaxed only when the shadow lady was clearly gone, and even then he made sure to keep alert. 

“Well that was enlightening,” T’Challa said. Bucky nodded his agreement. 

“Her energy doesn’t match anything I’ve never encountered before,” Shuri said, running Jax’s energy signature one more time just to be sure. 

“That’s because she isn’t from our galaxy,” Oliver replied. “She’s from Enexion, so everything is different. Strange, can you tell if she’s safe to be around?” Stephen shook his head. 

“I can't really be sure, but I don’t think we have much of a choice. If the universe wants her here, then she’s here.” 

“I am Groot,” Groot said and Quill nodded. 

“Yeah, she’s weird,” he agreed. 

“She’ll be useful though,” Stephen said. “From the sound of it, her power is great. She’s clearly here to help us fight Thanos.” 

“Yeah, or to finish killing us off,” Quill grumbled. Stephen did not bother to try and answer as he himself was not sure what to make of the newcomer. 

“Well, whatever happens, will happen,” T’Challa said. “All we know right now is that we have a chance to fix this, and now have more support. Strange, can this be worked into some sort of plan?” he asked. Stephen nodded slowly. 

“I believe so. I’ll need some time to figure out Jax’s powers first, but I believe that she will be useful. I’ll let you know what I think once I have trained with her a bit.” T’Challa nodded, but Bucky stepped forward. 

“You said that you’d seen all the possible futures. Why weren’t this Jax and Silven present in those visions?” he asked. Stephen looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. 

“Yes, I did. I believe that, at the time, this future was not available. Jax says that the universe pulled her out of the dark dimension in order to put her here. I think that they created a new future in which we could win,” Stephen said. Bucky nodded. 

“Okay, so then we should take advantage of it. What happened in the future that you saw us winning. What do we need to do?” he asked. Stephen sighed. 

“It’s mostly what they do on the outside. The surviving Avengers attempt to get the stones back from Thanos only to find that he destroyed them. They then go back in time to retrieve the stones from key locations on the timeline. Natasha-” he takes a deep breath before continuing, “Natasha dies retrieving the soul stone with Clint.” Silenced echoed and Wanda stared at Stephen in horror. 

“W-what next,” Bucky asked, clearly shaken. 

“Rhodey and Nebula, one of the Guardians, retrieve the space stone from the past. They steal it from you, actually,” Stephen explained, pointing at Quill. “While there, Nebula’s systems merge with past Nebula’s, and so Thanos is alerted to what is happening. He switches the two so that he has a spy inside the compound and has her bring him and his armies forward to our time.” 

“No, h-he can’t!” Peter exclaimed. 

“The Avengers don’t know what’s going on, of course, and so Hulk is able to use the stones to undo the snap right before Thanos arrives. The compound ends up destroyed, and the final battle begins.” 

“If Thanos is there, how do we win?” Riri asks hopelessly. Stephen looks like he’s on the verge of tears. 

“Because of Tony. He gets all the stones, and snaps his fingers.” 

“But all that energy-” Wanda begins, unable to finish the sentence upon seeing the look on Stephen’s face. 

“It’s the only way,” he said, voice breaking. Tears streamed from Riri’s eyes as she realized what Stephen was saying, and Peter’s face crumpled. T’Challa stepped forward. 

“Tony Stark cannot die,” he stated. “He is necessary to the Avengers. Him and him alone is the only reason that we’ve made it this far,” he said. Stephen nodded, wiping his eyes. 

“That’s why I’m doing everything in my power to stop that from happening,” he said. I believe that the universe agrees.” 

“So Mr. Stark will be alright?” Peter asked. Riri looked up hopefully at that and Stephen patted them both on the shoulder. 

“I hope so. If not, then I don’t know what I’ll do.” 

 

Wanda watched Jax carefully. The other woman looked about her age, but she had a feeling that the Shadow Wielder was far older. She recalled what Stephen had told her about the dark dimension granting cursed immortality and shuddered internally. It felt wrong being near such darkness, and it took all her control to keep her powers from lashing out at the shadows that clung to Jax. 

“Are you a mage?” Jax asked. 

“I’m a sorcerer. I’m training to be one at least,” she replied. She wasn’t quite sure if that was the same thing or not. Jax tilted her head slightly. 

“Then why do your powers feel different than that ones?” she asked, jerking her head in Stephen’s direction. Wanda looked down at her hands which were glowing faintly red. 

“My powers aren’t that of a regular sorcerer. I got them from one of the infinity stones while his are naturally crafted,” she replied. Jax nodded slightly. 

“So we’re both lab rats then,” she said calmly, slowly moving her hand and letting a strand of darkness weave between her fingers. “You don’t trust me,” she stated. “Neither do the others. It’s a good call, I don’t trust me either.” 

“How likely is it that you will lose control of the darkness and unleash it on the rest of us?” Wanda asked. 

“Highly unlikely in here, the soul realm is keeping a tight grasp on them. It’s why they’re all manifesting; they don’t like it. Out there though? It’s always a possibility. Especially in battle. I can tell you this though, I highly doubt you’d be the one feeling their wrath. The darkness isn’t as cruel as everyone likes to make it out to be. It prefers to hurt those who wrong it rather than just random individuals. If I lose my grasp on it, I believe that it would be Thanos that suffered. Not you.” 

“I thought that it was an uncontrollable weapon. The stories Frost told-” 

 

“The only times that Orûk ever saw my powers in action were when Morgalith still had his claws in them, and my mind was still lost to me. His abilities gave him influence over the darkness. He made it into a vicious, volatile, force that not even he could control,” Jax interrupted. Wanda nodded. 

“If you're here, then clearly you’re going to be involved in the plan. Dr. Strange believes that you can be useful to us.” 

“I can be useful to anybody,” Jax replied, “I assume you will want me to fight Thanos?” 

“If it comes down to it, yes. We’ll need all the help we can get,” Wanda answered. 

“That probably includes Silven. I’m not sure if he’s been dusted, but if he has then I can probably teleport him here,” Jax said. “Now let me rest. I haven't slept since entering the dark dimension.” With that, the shadows crawled over her like a blanket, and she closed her eyes. 

 

~

“I know you’re there,” Loki said from where he sat alone in the conference room. The Avengers had just left to find Thanos, leaving Loki and the Clea to run the compound in their absence. Loki had been reading a book, trying desperately to keep his mind off of Thanos when he’d felt the temperature of the room drop ten degrees. A patch of the metal table beside him iced over the word ‘Frost’ appeared. 

“Hmmm, so I’ve heard. I doubt that’s your real name, though. Care to introduce yourself properly?” the god of mischief asked, putting the book down. There was a moment of nothing until more ice crawled over the pre-written word and something else was carved in. 

“Orûk,” Loki said. “Interesting. I think I’ve heard of you, you know. Enexion isn’t a very common place to study on Asgard, but I did a bit of research. From what I hear, you and I can relate to a few things,” he said. Tell me, what did it feel like having your own mind ripped from your grasp,” Loki said. He got no response. 

“Oh very well,” he sighed. “I guess we’re doing this the fun way.” With that, he closed his eyes and pushed himself into his astral form. 

The room looked different in astral form, and Loki took a moment to look around before letting his eyes settle on the now visible Frost. He looked like he did when taking full control of Oliver’s conscious, except made entirely out of ice. 

“Do you really need an answer?” he asked. His voice sounded echoey and strange, and Loki couldn’t be sure if it was his actual voice or just the way that his astral form perceived it. “Last I checked, you knew all about what it felt like,” he said. Loki shrugged. 

 

“I haven’t exactly had anyone to compare experiences with. Nebula was tricked with words, not magic, and asking Barton would just be cruel.” 

“Well given that you traveled all the way into another dimension, I suppose I’m obligated to respond,” Frost said. “If you must know, I barely remember any of it. Even now, I only see flashes,” he admits. “You though, you can remember everything, can’t you? The torture at Thanos’ hands. The feeling of helplessness in New York. I know what kind of twisted mind beings such as Thanos posses. They take joy in watching their play-things fall apart. He wanted to break you, and he succeeded,” Orûk said in his normal, blunt fashion. His voice was not unkind, and Loki could hear a kind of understanding in it. 

“Who did you know, then? What being could possibly rival Thanos?” 

“Many,” was a simple reply. Loki could tell he would be getting no other response. He stayed in his astral form with Orûk until the others returned home, and found himself sinking back into once he heard the news; Thanos had destroyed the stones. There would be no reversing the snap.


	4. Collision Course: Dispersion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen continues to stock Earth, Five-year time-skip, Jax still can't find Silven, and Carol meets the angstiest mage in all of Enexion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! I'll be away until tomorrow afternoon, so I wanted to get this up before I forgot. I don't have much to say about this chapter... just enjoy and please comment what you think!

Stephen sat perched behind a large rock formation. To the outsider, he looked to be relaxing, but in reality, his mind was hard at work as he forced his way back through the soul realm and to the Avengers Compound. He watched as the remaining Avengers filed into the conference room and took their seats. In his astral form, he could see Frost sitting beside Loki, who was staring right at him. Stephen slowly shook his head as a way of asking his silence and Loki gave a minute nod before turning his attention to the others. 

Stephen floated across the room to stand beside Tony, who looked like he’d just crawled his way out of Hell. Everyone’s expression was grim, and Stephen had a feeling he knew why, given what he’d seen of the future. 

“So that’s it?” Steve asked. “It’s just… over?” 

 

“No,” Tony said, shaking his head in denial. “It can’t just be over we- there has to be another way,” he said. 

“Well, there’s not,” Thor said, speaking for the first time since returning from space. This is reality now, so get used to it,” he said, pushing himself away from the table. “Loki, come one, we must return to Asgard,” he said. Loki looked around nervously. 

“Brother, we are still needed here,” Loki said. 

“Then stay the,” he said. “Return when you will.” For the first time in a long time, Loki was speechless. Usually, it was Thro trying to convince him to do the right thing, not the other way around. They all watched in shock as Thor turned and left. 

“Great, we lost Thor,” Rocket grumbled. “Now what are we gonna do?” 

“We’ve gotta keep trying,” Steve said. “We’ve already got people around the world that are willing to help us. Not to mention Captain Marvel’s space connections. Someone somewhere must know something,” he said. 

“Rogers has a point,” Carol agreed. “I’m gonna be in and out for a while, so I’m putting Rhodey in charge of my team as well as his own. We should try to maintain contact though, I’ve set up your holo-communication systems to work intergalactically,” she explained. “Natasha, can you handle being the council leader of sorts? She asked. 

“Yeah, I can handle communications,” she agreed. 

“Good. Loki, make sure the sorcerer's keep looking for a magical solution. I’ll meet up with Talos and see what he’s found. Maybe we’ll be able to find some answers.” The others nodded and the meeting was dispersed. 

~

“What do you mean you can’t do it?” Quill shouted, staring at Jax. The women looked evenly back at him, and he took a small step back. 

“I mean, I cannot find Silven Drascoue and therefore cannot bring him here,” she said. “I can keep looking, but the universe is a very large place. It is impossible to know where he is,” she explained. 

“Are you sure you can’t find anything?” Wanda asked. Jax shook her head. 

“All we can do is wait. I’ll keep looking,” she repeated. Stephen nodded. He had had a feeling that it would take time to locate Silven. He was, of course, just one person out of half of all life in the universe. Not to mention the fact that the soul realm had most likely made it impossible to track his magical signature. 

“Wanda, Jax, with me,” he said. “We might not be able to find Silven, but we can still make our own plans. If we want to stay ahead of Thanos, then we’ll need to keep training.” Wanda nodded and Jax watched him with distrust. 

“And why should I trust you? You are but a mortal. What could you possibly know of the darkness?” she questioned. Stephen realized that she was probably right, but he refused to let it show. 

“You can go off on our own all you like on Enexion, but we aren’t going to be able to defeat Thanos unless we all work together. That means that we show you ours, and you do the same,” he said. Jax stared blankly at him before nodding. 

“As you wish,” she said. Stephen nodded and directed Jax and Wanda to follow him. 

 

~Five Years Later~

 

Natasha listened as Okoye gave her update, and Rhodey told them about what the Defenders were doing in New York. it was hard, given that half of their team was missing, but they were making due. 

“Carol, you think you’ll be stopping in here anytime soon?” Rhodey asked. The captain sighed. 

“I’m afraid I’m gonna have to stay out here for a while longer. Things aren’t getting any better, and there have been hundreds of power vacuums given how many monarchs were dusted.” Natasha nodded. 

“How’s Talos and his people?” Okoye asked. 

“There’re surviving,” Carol replied. “They’re grieving, but they’ll make it through. We all will. Good luck,” she said, turning to Rhodey. With that the screen flickered and she was gone. One by one the holograms disappeared, and Natasha was left sitting alone at the desk. 

“Rhodes, how are the juniors?” She asked, making his shoulders slump. 

“They aren’t taking it well. Kamala’s still barely said a word, and Harley still wakes up crying. Losing his mother and sister was hard,” he replied. “They miss the others. Everyone does.” Natasha nodded. 

“Tony needs them back, she said quietly. “They were the ones that really kept him going. You, Stephen, and the juniors.” 

“Now it’s just me,” Rhodey said. Natasha nodded. “You’re doing a good job though,” she said, cracking a small smile. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s helping him a lot more than you think,” she said. Rhodey nodded and headed out of the conference room. Natasha watched him go before bringing up the latest articles on Ronin. She ran a hand through her hair as she read and felt a sob build in her throat. 

“I’d offer to make you dinner, but you already look miserable,” the voice of Steve said from the doorway. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. 

“I just wish I knew what to do for him,” she said. 

“There’s nothing you can do. Nothing any of us can. We just have to hope that he can come back to himself.” 

“And if he can’t? Steve, we can’t just let him run around murdering gangsters. You know that. Had the situation been any different, we would already be involved,” she whispered. 

“But the situation isn’t any different, it’s this.” Natasha scoffed. 

“That shouldn’t matter,” she said. 

“But it does. Clint’s family, Nat, you don't hurt your family. At that Natasha let out a bitter laugh. 

“Steve, I’d think through my words before saying them if I were you. You know as well as I do that both of us crossed that line a long time ago,” she said. Steve looked down, realizing what he said and sighed. 

“Things still aren’t fixed are they,” he said. Natasha smiled sadly at him. 

“Steve, things are never going to be ‘fixed’ in the sense your thinking of. Have the Avengers been fixed? Yes. they were, at least. Was Tony’s self-esteem fixed? it was getting there. The ‘family’ that you remember though? No. It’s never going to be like you want it to be. You should accept that.” Steve felt his eyes burn, but pushed it back. 

“Steve… for what it’s worth, I don’t think that the juniors hate you anymore,” Natasha said. Steve laughed before leaving the room again. Natasha closed out of her tabs on Ronin and let her head hit the back of her chair and her eyes slip shut. She was about to drift off to sleep when a voice made her jolt awake. 

“Hello? Is anyone here?” a vaguely familiar voice called. 

“What?” she murmured, standing up. 

“Hey! It’s me! Scott Lang!” the voice called. Quickly, Natasha brought up the security feed from the outside of the compound to see the Ant-man waving and jumping at the camera. 

“Remember me! From the airport fight! I helped you fight Ironman and got really big- I know that you remember that!” he yelled. “Can you please let me in!” Natasha rushed down to the front door and felt her eyes widened as she saw that Scott Lang was indeed standing in front of her. 

“Woah, hair extensions?” he asked. 

 

~

 

The longer they were trapped in the soul realm, the more and more Stephen was to get out. He began putting more and more energy into breaking through the soul realm in his astral form to keep tabs on Otny and the others. He watched as the engineer worked tirelessly to try and find a solution even though he knew that it was hopeless. Stephen was thankful for Nebula and Rhodey. The two had managed to keep Tony on his feet along with Pepper and the remaining Junior Avengers. Peter would often ask for updates on them and May, and Riri would listen intently whenever Stephen mentioned the other juniors. 

Working with Wanda and Jax had proven difficult. The energy of the soul stone would disrupt their powers, and the Scarlet Witch would often lose her temper when normally easy tasks proved far more difficult than usual. Jax’s powers were terrifying, to say the least. It wasn’t she was abnormally powerful; when she was in control of the darkness she was at about the same level as Wanda. The scary part was how hard it was for her to maintain that control. She rarely spoke when using her powers in order to keep them from consuming her and he knew that should the darkness overcome her, they would all be doomed. The soul realm kept the darkness at bay while they were inside, but once they were on the battlefield with Thanos and his army, it would be up to Jax alone. 

“Dr. Strange,” Peter said right as he was about to try and get through the soul realm in the astral form once more. 

“What is it Peter?” he asked tiredly. 

“Jax thinks that she might have found a trace of Silven’s signature. She's going to check it out now, so she said that no one else can use any magic or it will mess her up,” he reported. Stephen nodded. 

“How strong was the signature?” he asked. 

“She did not say,” Wanda said, joining the group. “Only that it was the strongest she’d found and that she needs us to keep out of the soul realm’s energy,” she explained. 

“Well that’s good, right?” Peter asked. Stephen nodded. 

“It’s very good, kid. I’m just not sure if it will work,” Stephen said. It was hard enough to get an astral projection through the soul realm. He couldn’t imagine how much energy it would take to drag another person through. 

“Well we have to let Jax try,” Wanda said. Stephen nodded and sighed. The three made their way over to Riri and Shuri as they waited for results. 

 

~

 

Carol soured through space, her eyes heavy from lack of sleep. Splitting her time between Earth and the rest of the universe was tiring, to say the least, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a full nights sleep. Talos and his people were grateful for her help, and she knew that no matter how large her workload got, she wouldn’t abandon them or Earth. Still, it was a tiring existence, and she didn’t have any company to pass the time. 

She made a last lap around the latest planet she was visiting before flinging herself off into space. She soared through the empty darkness for what felt like hours until a crackling on her com system grabbed her attention. A distress signal. She stopped her flight and scanned the surrounding area. There were no planets anywhere nearby so Carol couldn’t imagine where the signal was coming from. 

“This is Captain Marvel, do you copy?” she asked into the com. There was nothing but static for a few seconds before a broken reply could be heard. 

“I co-p-y, Cap-tn,” a voice said. 

“Can you send me your coordinates? Over,” she said quickly. The person on the other end managed to get the coordinates of their ship across to Carol, and in a flash of gold, she was there. The ship wasn’t one that she recognized, and she approached with caution. She couldn’t imagine who would possibly be trying to cause problems now, but she exercised caution all the same. 

“I am preparing to board, do you copy?” Carol asked. 

“We are preparing the door,” came the reply. Because of the closer range, she was able to make out the voice on the other side far more clearly. It had a slight accent that she didn’t recognize from any of the planets she’d visited and her eyes narrowed in confusion. Whoever was inside the ship must have come a very long way.

Carol watched as a light field of purple surrounded the door as a way of keeping the void of space from sucking everything out of the ship while allowing her to enter. She reached out and gently pushed her way through the forcefield until she stood inside the ship, the golden glow that encompassed her being the only light in the darkened hall. 

“Hello?” she called carefully, allowing her power to simmer down so that only her hands were encased in golden light. “My name s Captain Marvel, I received your distress signal. I’m here to help you,” she said. A shadow moves at the end of the hall, and suddenly there's a light crimson light radiating from ahead of her. 

“Captain Marvel,” a voice repeated back to her. She took a few more steps until she could make out a figure in front of her. He was wearing a black robe tied with a sash which matched the ruby headdress that he covered his hair. A similarly colored red cloth covered the lower half of his face and draped elegantly over his shoulders. Carol took careful note of the long sword strapped to his side but had a feeling that he was not going to attack her. While she could not see most of his face, his orange eyes showed nothing but relief. 

“I’m here to help you,” Carol said again. “Mr…?” she trailed off, hoping to get a name from the man. 

“Garmage,” he said quickly. “Mestin Garmage of Enexion.”


	5. Collision Course: To Love and Lose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carol meets Mestin and Emilia, Nebula hates Steve, Morgan is adorable, Peter is excited, and Silven finally does something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry, this is coming along so slowly, I've just got a ton on my plate in the way of school, and not much time to write. Hope you enjoy!

Mestin’s ship had apparently been out of power for three days. He and his traveling companion, a woman by the name of Emilia Corvell, had been trying to get a distress signal out but had been too far away from anything for the signal to connect. Had Carol been just a little later, they would have been dead. Seemed familiar, she mused. 

“You say that you’re from Enexion… so what are you doing out here?” She asked. Mestin sighed. 

“There was nothing left for me there,” he replied. Carol nodded in understanding. Emilia glared at the ground, and suddenly Carol found herself staring at Maria Rambo. Her eyes widened, and Mestin’s head snapped up.

“Emilia, get a grip,” he growled. Maria faded back into Emilia and Carol stared in confusion. 

“How did you-?” 

“Emilia is often known as the Lady Love for her ability to shift into the exact image of the person you love the most,” Mestin replied shortly. “Whether they are still alive or not,” he added darkly. 

“Who did you lose?” Carol questioned. Mestin stared up at her with empty eyes and Carol had a feeling that she knew exactly what he was going to say. 

“Everyone,” he replied. “I don’t even know what happened to them. We were just having lunch and they just… Silven vanished right in front of me. I couldn’t stop it, no matter what I did. I ran into the kitchen to find Mineu, but she was gone too. There was just dust left on the floor,” he said. Carol nodded. It was just like what Tony had described when giving his report about Titan. 

“I was with my wife, Vesta, when it hit,” Emilia said. “She faded away along with our horses and the cat,” she said. 

“It was a being called Thanos,” Carol said, making Mestin and Emilia look up. “He gathered all of the infinity stones together and wiped out half of all life in this universe. My people were trying to stop him, but he was too strong. I doubt you would have heard of him so far out, but he was a pretty big deal where I’m from.” 

“Thanos,” Mestin growled. “Where is he,” he demanded, silver and red light crackling around his hands. 

“Dead,” Carol said. “We confronted him after he used the stones. We wanted to get them back and undo what he did, but he’d already destroyed the stones to prevent anyone from righting his wrongs. Thor Odinson killed him in retaliation.” Mestin slumped over in his chair. 

“So there truly is no hope,” Emilia said. 

“We’re looking for a solution back on Earth, and I have people around the nearby galaxies that are doing as much as they can. We haven’t given up yet,” she assured him. “We can’t.” Mestin nodded before taking a deep breath. 

“Where is this ‘Earth’?” he asked. 

~

 

Scott Lang’s idea was crazy. Absolutely insane. Tony knew that there was no way that it could be safely executed, which as exactly why he already knew that he was going to do it. In the five years since Thanos, Tony had managed to pull himself somewhat back together. It was hard, and he still felt like he was missing pieces of himself that he knew he would never be able to recover, but he managed. Harley and Kamala were both staying at the compound, their own families having been killed in the snap. May came by a lot as well, though she still wanted to keep living in her apartment. 

“How’s it coming, Tony?” Rhodey asked, coming down to join the mechanic in the lab. 

“It’s coming,” Tony replied. “Are we sure about this?” he asked. “I mean… we’re talking about ripping apart the fabrics of time itself. The one thing that Stephen told us was beyond dangerous and we’re just up and doing it,” he exclaimed. 

“Tony, Strange wouldn’t have given Thanos the stone had this not been part of his plan. We have to this,” Rhodey assured him, putting a calming hand on his arm. “Pepper’s here. She wants to know if you plan n eating dinner tonight or not. Just a warning, she’s gonna force you into the kitchen whether you want to take a break or not,” Rhodey said with a small grin. Tony found himself smiling as well. Some things never changed, no matter how awful the rest of the world became. 

“Tell her I’ll be up in a bit, and tell Morgan I’ve got a present for her,” Tony said. Rhodey grinned wider. He knew that if Tony promised Morgan that he’d be up for dinner, then he’d be up for dinner. 

About a year after Thanos, Tony and Pepper had decided to give things another go. While they had both decided that they worked better as friends, neither regret their time together as it resulted in Morgan, who became the center of everyone's lives at the compound. The juniors treated her like a little sister, and Kamala added in new protocols to Gina to make her Morgan’s protector as well. Steve knew better than to try and get too close to the kid but found her adorable nonetheless. 

Tony worked for about fifteen more minutes before shutting everything down and heading up to where Rhodey, Pepper, and Morgan were waiting. 

“Daddy!” she said happily. Tony smiled as he picked her up and let her wrap her small arms around his neck. “I found mommy’s helmet in the garage, and she let me wear it around the house, and then Happy made cheeseburgers for lunch!” she said happily. 

 

“Well that sounds better then my day, I was locked down in the lab doing the work of a mad scientist,” he said. 

“Yeah, because you insisted on doing so,” Rhodey said, lightly bumping his shoulder. 

“So you’re really doing it?” Pepper asked. Tony sighed and nodded he put Morgan down in her seat. He knew that she had been opposed to the idea. She didn’t want to lose their current timeline any more than Tony did. 

“I’m looking into it. I promised the others that I would, but I never said that I’d do anything else. Shit, it might not even be possible,” he said. 

“Shit,” Morgan echoed. Tony’s eyes widened comically and Rhodey choked on his drink 

“No, no, no, don’t say that- forget I ever said that! Ignore me, don’t copy me, copy your mother,” Tony said. Morgan giggled, and Pepper hid her smile behind a glass of water. 

“Tones, you’ve gotta work on your language,” Rhodey said. 

“Who do I look like, Captain America?” Tony asked. “I can’t help it!” Rhodey snorted but said nothing else. The rest of the meal was spent talking about anything other than Tony’s time travel project, although it was on everyone except Morgan’s mind. Tony thought that perhaps he would get away with not having to talk about it at all until Pepper cornered him after the meal. 

“Tony… I know that you’re getting further with Scott’s theory than you’re letting on,” she said gently. Tony sighed and looked around wearily. 

“I solved it, alright?” he said. Pepper’s eyes widened a fraction, but other than that she didn’t look at all surprised. “I figured it out yesterday. I’ve just been fiddling with old data ever since so that no one would know.” Pepper nodded. 

“What do you want to do?” she asked. One thing she’d learned from all her years with Tony was that the problem solved best out loud. 

“I want to lock it in a box at the bottom of the ocean and go say goodnight to Morgan. I want to go to the compound and tell Rogers and Scott that time travel is only possible in movies and that it won’t work. I want to just delete everything I found in the past week and go to sleep,” he said with a hollow laugh. 

“But would be able to rest?” Pepper asked gently. Tony sighed and Pepper put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Tony, I am the last person that wants you to attempt this. So many things could go wrong and you’ve created a good life from all this. You have a good life,” she said. “That being said, as good as this life might be, I know that it won’t be great unless they're in it. Stephen, Peter, the other juniors… you need them. Maybe as much as we need you.” 

“What are you saying?” Tony asked, and Pepper pursed her lips. 

“I’m saying that I think that deep down, you already made your choice, and I’m telling you that it’s okay. You have my blessing to do it… Morgan’s blessing to do it,” she said. “Bring them home, Tony,” she said, forcing herself to hold back her tears. “Bring them home for us all.” 

 

~

 

Nebula watched as Tony pulled up to the tower. He had called her last night to alert her to what he had discovered. To tell her that he would be arriving to deliver his findings to the Avengers. 

“He here yet?” Natasha asked. Nebula gave a short nod and heard Steve leave the room to meet Tony. She clenched her fist, having heard much about what Steve Rogers had done, but said nothing. The two shared a brief exchange, and Nebula glowered at Steve through the window. She watched as they come inside the building, and was ready for them when they entered the room. 

“Nebula! Good to see you're still hanging around!” Tony said happily. Nebula gave him a nod, which they both knew to be a friendly greeting for Nebula. 

“You have our solution?” She asked. 

“Yup!” Tony said, popping the ‘p’ sound. “Got some new gear for everyone too. If you want to head down to my lab I can get you fitted with a new arm-”

“It’s alright,” Nebula said quickly. He had already given her so much, and she felt wrong accepting any more. Tony looked a little putout, but he didn’t say anything. 

“Alright, I can get us through time so long as Scott provides his Pym particles. According to him, we only have a limited amount though, so we need to figure out where the most infinity stones were at one given time,” Tony said. Nebula nodded. 

“I’m guessing that your sorcerers will have some lore, and I can look back at my data archives to see if there are any notes left from my time with Thanos,” she offered. 

“Well we better get looking,” Steve said. Nebula nodded once and, without looking at Steve, grabbed Tony’s arm and dragged him out of the room to join Natasha. 

“You really don’t like Rogers,” Tony observed. 

“I don’t like people that remind me of my father,” she said. Tony looked at her in confusion and she sighed. “The belief that one is right even when an entire universe is saying no, manipulating those around oneself in order to remain in charge, not caring about the death toll; these are all attributes that I associate to Thanos. They are also very dominant traits n Rogers. While he may not realize what he does, I do,” Nebula said. 

“Well, then it’s good that you won’t have to be working with him much. It’s going to be us and Banner,” Natasha said as they entered the room. 

“Where is Brucie-bear?” Tony asked. “I haven’t seen him at all in the past five years.” 

“He’s been finding his zen,” Natasha said with a small smile. “He’ll be here in a bit. In the meantime, we should get studying.” 

 

~

 

Peter and Wanda sat watching Jax trace the signal she had caught in search of Silven. A more accurate way of putting it really was that Wanda glared wearily at Jax while Peter hid behind her. They had been watching for the past three hours while Stephen explained to the other what they were doing. Wanda felt Peter jump slightly when Jax’s eyes snapped open. They were dark brown rather than pure black, so she took that to be a good sign. 

“Anything?” Wanda asked. 

“Yes, but not anything that will help us now,” Jax said. “I found the source of the signature, but it wasn’t Silven. It was his lover, Mestin,” she said. “It seems that he survived Thanos. He is no longer on Enexion though, he is with a woman that glows gold,” Jax said. 

“Carol!” Peter yelled excitedly. “I bet he’s with Carol!” the other’s heads snapped up at Peter’s yell, and Stephen floated over. 

“What about Carol? What did you see?” the sorcerer asked. 

“Jax saw another Enexion mage named Mestin. Apparently, he’s with a woman that glows gold! That has to be Carol, right?” Peter said. T’Challa nodded thoughtfully. 

“From what she’s told me, she is the only one with such powers as they came from the tesseract,” he said. “The chances are high that it’s her.” 

“Well that’s good, right? I mean, maybe he’ll know something that could help,” Wanda suggested. Jax shook her head, though. 

“Enexion knew nothing of Thanos or the infinity stones. At most he will be able to help fight, but I believe that’s it,” Jax said. They all considered her words until Riri spoke up. 

“If the signature you felt was actually Mestin, then where the Hell is Silven?” she asked. Jax shook her head. 

“I’m not sure. He is in the soul realm, that much I believe is true. I don’t think that we are meant to find him yet though. I believe that we must wait for him to come to us.” Stephen nodded in acceptance. If the soul realm wanted them to wait, then he really didn’t think that they had any other option. 

“Why does it not want him here, though?” Wanda asked. “Wouldn’t it make sense to let us all plan together?” 

“I’m not sure,” Stephen answered. “For now we can just wait.” 

 

~

 

Silven Drascoue had been in many difficult situations, but this was by far the strangest. Magic pulsed around him in the form of golden-orange light. From that magic, he learned of what Thanos had done, and where he was. The soul realm. 

He made a tally of where all of his allies from Enexion were; Mestin was alive with Emilia and currently being brought to earth by Captain Marvel, Orûk of the Winter was also alive and already on Earth, Mineu of the River Valley was in the Soul Realm, as was Vesta, and Tordion was still on Enexion with Zamirion. 

He also knew that Jax Simone was in the soul realm as well, and was planning an escape with Earth’s mightiest heroes. The universe hid him from her though. Eventually, she would find him, but he was still needed where he was. There were a few jobs he needed to do before he could help make the plan to defeat Thanos. He had already completed one of them: figure out Emilia’s location. The next step would be a bit harder, but he knew it was possible. He was going to need to get in contact with Mestin and set him on a path that would lead to heartbreak, with a small chance of success.


	6. Collision Course: Through The Fog I See Your Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carol, Emilia, and Mestin head to Earth, Stephen watches the Avengers progress on Earth, Silven gets a plan across to Mestin, Morgan is the best. That last one' not fully relevant to the chapter, but it's a fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm getting a bit behind schedule I'm studying for exams and it's getting crazy. My goal is to have this finished before summer, so I'll try to crank out the last few chapters within the next three weeks. Because of that, you can probably see that my editing is a bit rushed. I'm going to try to re-edit this if I have time before summer, but if I don't then I'll get to it when I come back in August.

Stephen watched as Tony, Natasha, and a very different-looking Hulk researched where the infinity stones had once been. Morgan would occasionally come in, and Stephen could tell that she was the only reason the group hadn’t given up yet. Nebula came and went as well. She had been unable to find any useful information in her hard drive, and so she was helping various groups research. She refused to assist Rogers, though, and Stephen couldn’t help but respect her for that. 

“Strange, what’s new?” Oliver asked, coming up beside him with Wanda. 

“They’re on the right path,” Stephen answered. “They’re searching for the stones throughout time. It won’t be long before they go back to get them,” he said. 

“And Nat dies,” Wanda whispered. They all fell quiet at that, and Stephen nodded shortly. 

“Yes. Nat dies,” he said quietly. “We’ll have time to mourn, but right now we need to get ready. It won’t be long now until we’re out of here and fighting Thanos, so we have to get a plan,” he said, standing up. 

“The wizard’s right, I want another shot at that grape-motherfucker,” Quill said. 

“Um… now,” Strange said. “If I remember correctly it was you who messed up our last plan. You’re not going anywhere near Thanos,” he decided. 

“The sorcerer is right,” Drax agreed. “You cannot be trusted.” Mantis nodded eagerly, and Quill deflated. 

“How much time do we have, Strange?” Bucky asked. 

“A little over a day I’d guess,” Stephen replied. “While they take a lot of time when in the quantum realm, it will only be a moment in our timeline.” 

“Then we must get ready,” T’Challa decided. “When we are brought back, where will we end up? Will my armies and I be returned to Wakanda?” 

“I believe so. Once I’m returned to the real world, I’ll get a message to the Sanctum and have the sorcerers get you to the compound to fight Thanos,” Stephen said. T’Challa nodded in agreement and Shuri looked excited. Clearly, she was planning to get some things from her lab. While she hadn’t been able to fight the first time around she had no plans of sitting this one out. 

“Oliver, do you think that you’ll be able to fight without Frost? I believe that the magic he used to heal you will hold, but I cannot be sure.” 

“I’m fighting,” Oliver decided. “Where will Frost be? Can’t I just be his host again?” 

 

“You can, but I have a feeling that it’s going to be a bit hectic, so it may take a while for him to find you,” Stephen explained. “Alright, let’s get ready to finish this.” 

 

~

 

“So, you’re the Mesti and Emilia from Frost’s stories,” Carol said, looking at Mestin curiously. Emilia was preparing the ship from lightspeed travel as Carol would soon be transporting them to Earth as fast as possible. 

“Frost… I don’t know anyone by that name,” he said. “Is he of Enexion?” 

 

“Yes, but I believe he had a different name when living there. He told us that you were a mage, but he didn’t talk about Emilia all that much. You say that she can take the form of the person you love the most?” Carol asked, interested. Mestin sighed, leaning back against his chair. 

“It’s more than just that. When she changes form… it’s the real deal. One time when we were sparring I hit her in the face and gave her a nose bleed. she accidentally shifted and I could sense a different magical signature in the blood. I had one of my scientists run a few tests, and the DNA came back as Silven’s.” 

“She changed her DNA?” Carol asked in amazement. Mestin nodded. 

“When enemies attack her, they don’t stand a chance. I always thought that it was strange that no one was able to push aside their love for whoever they saw to get the job done. Now I understand though. It isn’t just an illusion. She truly does become them.” Carol understood too. Emilia had only appeared as Maria for a moment, but she could have sworn it was real. She had the same spark in her eyes that was unique to Maria and had smiled in a way that Carol knew no one could re-create. 

“I’m guessing that that was very useful in the war,” she said. 

“Yes, it was,” Mestin agreed. “I’m guessing that she would have been useful against Thanos as well. If what you said about his daughter is true, she probably would have been a good distraction,” he said. Carol nodded. Emilia would have been very useful during the Infinity War. 

 

~

 

Mestin and Emilia watched the stars streak by them as Carol pushed their ship towards Earth at light speed. 

“You sure about this?” Emilia asked. “If we do this, darling, there’s a very good chance that we won’t come home.” 

“What’s left at home?” Mestin asked, successfully ending the conversation. They watched the stars pass in silence until Emilia spoke once more. 

“Is that it? Earth?” she asked, pointing to a small, green and blue planet ahead of them. Carol had begun to slow down as well, so they supposed that he must be right. 

As their ship sped towards the planet called Earth, Mestin felt a strange tug in the back of his mind. 

“Mestin…” a familiar voice whispered. Mestin looked around only to find everything frozen. He peered out the window to see Carol stuck in time, the golden energy that she possessed suspended around her. 

“Mestin, can you hear me?” The voice asked again. Mestin turned slowly around, eyes trained on the ground. The first thing he saw was a pair of black boots that seemed to shimmered orangey-gold. He slowly looked up until he was staring into a pair of familiar, hazel eyes. 

“Silven?” he asked, voice small. “W-what is this? What’s happening?” he asked. 

“We don’t have much time, I need to talk to you,” Silven said quickly, not giving Mestin much time to take in what was happening. “You are headed to Earth, correct?” he questioned. Mestin nodded. “Good. When you get there, the Avengers will be preparing to retrieve the infinity stones from the past.”

“What are you talking about?” Mestin asked. Silven looked back at him, and Mestin could find only pain in his eyes. 

“I need you to listen very carefully,” Silven said. Mestin nodded and felt his eyes widen as Silven began to speak. 

 

“I don’t understand,” Mestin said once Silven was done. 

 

“You will,” Silven whispered. “I’m so sorry.” His form began to flicker and Mestin’s eyes widened. 

“No! Please don’t go, please don’t leave yet!” Silven looked at him sadly and reached forward to wipe away the tears Mestin hadn’t even realized were leaking from his eyes. 

“It’s going to be okay,” he said, flickering in and out of visibility as the soul realm’s pull intensified. “Remember what I told you. It will be alright,” Silven said. Mestin grabbed onto his sleeve, but his fingers just fell through empty air. 

“I love you,” Silven’s voice echoed as he was thrown back into the soul realm. Mestin sank to his knees as time began moving again. He heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards him and felt Emilia’s hand on his shoulder as she pulled him to his feet. 

“Mestin, what’s happening? Should I get Carol to come back in?” she asked. Mestin shook his head. 

“No, everything is fine. We have to get to Earth as fast as we can though. We have a job to do.” 

~

Tony had needed some time to take in Bruce’s new form, but he was beginning to find it quite interesting. Bruce seemed far calmer than usual, and the combination of raw strength and intelligence would definitely prove useful in the future. Currently, though, none of their minds were having any luck with the infinity stones question. Tony, Bruce, and Natasha were all lying on a table with old lore splayed out around them. 

“Wait,” Natasha said, sitting up partially. “If the mind stone was Loki’s scepter, the space stone is the Tesseract, and Dr. Strange had the time stone, then that’s three stones in New York,” she said. 

“Holy shit, she’s right!” Tony realized, sitting up with a start. Bruce got up as well and the group made their way to the main conference room where Clea and Wong were talking with Nebula. 

“Guys, we’ve got three stones in New York at the same time,” Natasha said. “We're just going to need to hope that past-Strange is willing to give us the stone,” She explained. 

“Well that would be a problem, Strange didn't have the stone at that point,” Wong said. “It was being protected by the Sorceress Supreme, and I doubt that he will purposely endanger her timeline.” 

“Well then we take it from her, and bring it back before she realizes it’s missing,” Nebula said. Clea shook her head slightly but didn’t say anything. From what Stephen had told her about the Sorceress Supreme, she was unlikely to lose the time stone. 

“Look, Stephen wouldn’t have let Thanos have the stone unless he was sure that we’d be able to do this,” Tony said fiercely. “We’ve gotta do this.” The others nodded and Clea looked thoughtful. 

“Wait here, I have something that might help,” she said before portaling back to the sanctum. Tony walked up to the projected data and began filling in what they had found. 

“So we have three stones in New York along with this planet, uh, Vormir?” he asked. Wong nodded. 

“According to Rocket, it’s where Thanos killed Gamora,” he said. Tony nodded and turned to Natasha wearily. 

“Natasha, I’m going to need to ask you to do something that I don’t think you’re going to want to,” he said. Natasha watched him carefully for a moment before nodding. 

“I’ll get him back,” she said. With that, she headed down to find the quinjet and set her course for Clint.


	7. Downfall: Remember Me, My Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha finds Clint, Silven Drascoue has a plan, the Avengers head back in time, and the soul stone is retrieved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! We are now in part two of this story, Downfall, and so there will probably only be five-ten chapters left. Hope you enjoy!

Clint was gone. Natasha was sure that he had to be. Clint Barton would not be killing a man begging for his life. Clint Barton wouldn’t even be using a sword, and Clint Barton would most definitely not have gotten a mohawk. That was one thing Natasha new for a fact. She watched as he sliced his way through the criminals he was fighting. He knew that she was there, she could tell he did. 

“Clint,” she said after the last man had fallen. She stepped forward, ignoring the blood that pooled around her feet in the rain. When Clint turned to look at her, Natasha was met with the face of a broken man. She knew that Laura and the kids were gone. So many of his friends were gone, along with his place in the Avengers ever since retirement. Kate Bishop was alive, but she had left after the snap, the loss of her friends and family proving too much to bear. “Clint, we need your help,” she said. The archer just shook his head, and Natasha sighed. 

“We’ve found a way to fix this,” she said. “We’re working to fix this.” Clint just shook his head. 

“Don’t do that. Don’t give me hope,” he said. 

“It’s our only choice,” Natasha said. 

“And if it fails?” Clint asked.

“Then we will have died trying,” Natasha replied. 

 

~

Silven felt Jax’s pull on his magic. Now that he had gotten his message to Mestin, he could feel the barriers the soul realm had set up to keep him from the others wearing thin. He pushed with his magic back against the soul realms energy in an attempt to help Jax. 

“Silven, are you there?” Jax’s voice rang in his mind and he closed his eyes as he felt the soul stone’s energy begin to weaken and tare. He could feel darkness pulsing around him, and didn’t have to open his eyes to know that she was dragging him to wherever she and the Avengers were in the soul realm. 

When Silven felt the darkness begin to retreat, Silven opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by a group of unfamiliar beings. Most looked to be human, while others were species he had never seen before including some sort of weapon-holding raccoon. Jax stood before him, her darkness swirling around her and climbing up her arms and legs. 

Beside Jax stood a man in blue robes and a red cloak who gave off a powerful magical signature. Silven reached out lightly with his magic and found that this man was indeed a mage or the Earthen version of one at least. On the other side of Jax was a woman dressed in scarlet with ginger-dyed hair. He could sense a different kind of magic on her. It was not natural, but it seemed to be in the process of molding with her soul. It was far more stable than Jax’s darkness, a creation that was also not a natural gift. 

Behind them was a boy that also gave off a signature that attracted Silven’s attention, but for completely different reasons. He could sense familiar energy coming from him. Orûk’s energy. This must have been the winter spirit’s host on Earth. 

“Silven Drascoue?” The man in the blue robes asked. Silven returned his gaze to him. 

“Yes, Dr. Strange?” he questioned in return. The man nodded his head. 

“Well, then I have a lot to tell you. I’m going to need you to get in contact with one of your Earth friends. I have set a plan in motion, and I need someone on the ground floor aware of it. Stephen nodded in agreement and led Silven over to the rock formation where he usually sat when looking through the soul realm. 

“What do you need me to do?” Stephen asked. 

“I need to pick someone. Someone you know would be wise enough to keep a secret in order to save the future, even if it means having a guilty conscious,” Silven said. Stephen squeezed his eyes shut. He knew exactly who would be able to do that. He just didn’t want to have to put him through it. 

“I take it you have someone in mind?” the mages asked. Stephen nodded stiffly. “Good. I need you to find them for me. I can use my magic to open the soul realm, but I need you to transfer the message. I have already spoken to my people on the outside. They are currently headed to Earth and are aware of what’s going to happen.” Stephen nodded. 

“Alright, what’s the plan?” 

 

~

Carol maneuvered Mestin and Emilia’s ship carefully through the atmosphere before lowering it down in front of the compound. She could see Tony, Bruce, Steve, and Nebula running out to meet her and heard the war machine armor approaching from above. 

“They’re here,” Tony whispered to himself. 

“It’s not any kind of ship I recognize,” Nebula said as they approached. 

“Frost knows it,” Loki said, appearing beside them. “He says it’s of Enexion.” Tony stared at the trickster god in shock. 

“You can hear him?” 

 

“We can communicate in the astral plane,” he replied easily. “The strongest mage in Ferwan and the Lady Love are aboard that ship. They are friends,” Loki reported. Tony watched as Carol put the ship down with a resounding thumb, and opened the ramp. 

The first person to walk out was a woman with candy red hair, and a leather jacket with similarly colored ribbons weaved tightly into the material. She eyed the others on the lawn in a way that suggested she was ready for a fight but didn’t particularly want one. It was a look that Nebula knew well from her time with Gamora. 

The second person off was a man with dark skin and an orange cloak wrapped tightly around him. He was looking straight ahead, and Loki could sense magic surrounding him. While he looked far less confident than his companion, the waiting Avengers got the sense that he was the deadlier of the two. 

“Carol, what’s going on?” Steve asked. 

“Picked up two more, they’re friends of Frost’s,” she said. Just then the man’s head snapped up. 

“Orûk, he’s here,” he stated. “I can sense him… why can’t I see him? Where is he?” It ended up being Loki who answered the mage’s question. 

“His host was killed in Thanos’ snap, so he cannot take a corporeal form until we have undone it,” he explained. Mestin nodded and turned in the general direction of where he could sense Frost. 

“Orûk, it’s good to know you’re alright,” he said. The winter spirit smiled sadly, though he knew that none of them could see it. “I was told that you are planning to go back in time to retrieve the stones, we’re here to help,” he explained. 

“How do you know that?” Rogers asked. “Carol wasn’t here when we finalized the details… no one but the people that haven’t left the compound sense.” Emilia and Mestin glanced at each other carefully before the mage began to speak again.

 

“I’ve been contacted by someone in the soul realm. He told me about your plan and that I needed to come and help you. He didn’t say much, only that I’d need to be there afterward,” he said. 

“Clint and Natasha just got back an hour ago, so we were getting ready to go. I’m afraid that we don’t have enough extra particles to take anyone else with us,” Scott said, popping up from his shrunk form. Emilia nodded in understanding. 

“Well, maybe that’s for the best. While we know how to get the stones, we still need to be able to find a way to wield them. Maybe some magic would be useful,” Loki suggested. “Frost thinks it would be a good idea,” he said when they all turned to look at him in surprise. 

“We’ll do that, then. Orûk has never led us wrong before,” Emilia said. Mestin looked like he wanted to disagree, but a glare from Emilia made him shut up. 

“Well you won’t be on your own too long,” Scott said. “It will only seem like a moment to you before we’re back.” Mestin nodded. 

“Alright everybody, I guess that means that it’s time for us to suit up,” Tony said. “I’ve got special travel suits and new helmets,” he explained as they headed into the compound. “Now I’m not sure how stable this machine is yet… it won’t break down on us, but I haven’t been able to run enough tests to determine if it is releasing any dangerous kinds of radiation, so the suits stay on the whole time. Helmet included,” he said. 

“I’m surprised the UN is okay with the risk factor,” Steve said. 

“They agreed that these were special circumstances. So long as I made sure the room was insulated and promised to destroy the machine after, they said that they wouldn’t cause any problems,” Tony explained. 

“Your suits are in your rooms. Well actually, Bruce, Nebula, and Natasha’s are still in my lab. I just finished them up like, five minutes ago. Next time we do this, I want a nicer schedule,” Tony said. They all nodded and broke apart to get prepared. 

“Can we see the machine?” Mestin asked. 

“Sure, this way,” Tony replied, bringing the two newcomers towards the room where in just a few moments, they would attempt to rewrite space and time. 

 

~

Stephen watched as Silven closed up the rift he’d made in the soul realm. The mage had exerted all of his strength so that Stephen would be able to have a few extra moments to talk to Tony after delivering the message, and he felt a rush of gratitude towards him for it. 

“He understands the plan?” Silven asked, panting from the effort of keeping the connection open for so long. 

“Yes,” Stephen said. “It hurts him greatly, but he knows that it must happen. The universe is at stake. We can’t let a hand full of lives stand between us and those stones. We did that last time, and look where it got us,” Stephen replied. Silven nodded. 

“You’ve been working with Jax,” he said. Stephen blinked the change of topic startling him for a moment. 

“Yes, her power is quite remarkable but equally unstable. It wouldn’t serve us any good to have her lose control the second we get back. I don’t even want to know what would happen if that darkness were allowed to consume Earth.”

“No, you don’t,” Silven agreed. Stephen’s eyes narrowed. 

“Do you know? What would happen, I mean?” he asked carefully. Silven stared ahead for a moment before responding. 

“There’s a place that lies beyond our universe. They call it the Nox. It’s a place of eternal darkness. Of nothing. It is where Jax’s powers come from. When Morgalith created her, he accidentally made a portal into the Nox. If Jax were to lose control of the darkness, it would pull Earth in and we’d be trapped there. 

“What would happen once there?” Stephen asked, his time in the dark dimension flashing through his mind. 

“Nothing,” Silven replied simply. “The Nox is nothing but darkness. There is no time, and there is no light. We would be frozen as we are for the rest of eternity. There is no worse Hell.” 

“So this Nox, can it be stopped?” Stephen asked. 

“Once fully freed? No. It can be contained, but not stopped. If it were to take Earth, it is very unlikely that it would contaminate other planets. In order to leave, Jax would have to be conscious, and so they would be trapped once more.” 

“Would she be able to save Earth? If the happened?” Stephen asked, casting an uneasy look at the Shadow Wielder as she practiced with Wanda. 

“I can’t be sure. It’s never been tested before, so we have no way of knowing,” Silven explained. Stephen nodded, brow furrowed. 

“And your sure that she won’t lose control on the battlefield with Thanos?” he asked and Silven nodded. 

“She’s been in a stressful situation that has called for her powers before. She can do it,” the mage said confidently. The conversation died down for a moment before Silven asked yet another question that caught Stephen off guard. “Have you tried looking into the future again?” 

“No I mean, I don’t have the time stone anymore. It’s impossible,” Stephen said. Silven sighed. 

“Then I suppose we’ll have to rely solely on what you saw before and hope it works. I’m afraid that the soul realm will be able to offer us no further assistance.” 

 

~

The assembled heroes stood around the machine, their suits and helmets fully activated, and their Pym particles ready to go. 

“Alright, everybody clear on the plan?” Tony asked across the coms. “Rogers, Ant-man, and I will be heading to New York to get the time, space, and mind stones. Thor, Loki, and Rocket will retrieve the reality stone from Asgard. Nebula and War Machine will head off to grab the power stone before Starlord can get his hands on it, and Black Widow will head to Vormir with Hawkeye for the soul stone,” he said. They all nodded. 

“Great, then let’s get going,” Bruce said only to be interrupted as Clea came skidding into the room. 

“Wait!” she said, running over to Tony. “Take this,” she said, handing him an ancient looking ring. It was thick and made of solid gold and encrusted with shards of dark pink geode. “Take this with you. If you show it to the Sorceress Supreme, she’ll believe your story,” she instructed. 

“What is it?” Tony asked, examining the artifact. 

“It’s not dangerous, don’t worry. It’s enchanted to protect the wearer, but mostly just sits in a glass case for the students to look at. She recognizes it though, and she’ll know that only Strange could have given it to you.” Tony nodded his thanks and Clea quickly portaled away. All the sorcerers were on guard in case something went wrong with the time travel. Should time be ripped apart, it would be up to them to protect whatever remained of reality. 

“Well I guess this is it, then,” Scott said. 

“I’ll be waiting,” Carol called, smiling at Rhodey who smiled back behind his helmet. Cint gave Natasha a reassuring half-smile which she returned. 

“See you in a minute,” she said into the comms. 

“You too,” Steve said. And then they were gone. 

~

The feeling of speeding through the quantum realm was not one that Tony enjoyed. It wasn’t anything like flying in the Ironman suit or even speeding down the freeway with the top down. Even with the suit on, he still felt as though his skin was being peeled away by the speed they were going at. 

The group of three landed abruptly in New York City, and they all had to take a moment to steady themselves. 

“Well that was unsettling,” Scott noted before diving to the side to avoid a piece of falling debris. 

“Ah, memories,” Tony said sarcastically. “Now, let’s get going. Bruce, you take the sanctum. Scott, Rogers and I will-” 

“Ah, Tony? I don’t think that’s the best idea,” Bruce said. 

“What? What do you mean?” Tony demanded. 

“Well, Clea gave you the artifact, so clearly she thinks it’s best if you go talk to the sorceress. Besides, you’ve been there a lot more than the rest of us, so wouldn’t it be quicker?” he pointed out Tony looked down at the rng in his hand and eventually nodded. 

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” he agreed. “Keep the coms open though. If you run into any problems, let me know.” 

“Got it. So, we break now?” Scott asked. Given the circumstances, Tony had expected the Ant-man’s energy and optimism to have been a bit squandered. Clearly, he was wrong.

“Alright, let’s head out,” Steve said. He, Bruce, and Scott headed towards the compound while Tony made his way quickly to the Sanctum. It would be far faster to fly, he thought, but far more noticeable too. The Iron Legion wasn’t in use yet, so he wouldn’t be able to blend in as one of them if he took to the skies. Walking would have to do. 

When he arrived at the Sanctum, he looked around quickly before taking off and landing on the roof to find a woman with a shaved head and flowing, yellow robes block debris from hitting the sanctum. 

“I take it you’re the Ancient One?” Tony asked. “I’m here because of Stephen Strange.” The women considered him thoughtfully, and Tony got the uncomfortable feeling that she was reading his soul like a book.

 

“Well, then I’m afraid your about five years too early. Dr. Strange is currently performing surgery a few blocks over,” she replied. “You aren’t here for him though, you were hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but he’s not the reason you came,” she said. 

“Yeah, I came for that,” Tony said, pointing to the time stone that hung around her neck.

“Well I’m afraid that isn’t an option,” she said, eyebrows raised. “As the Sorceress Supreme, it is my job to protect the time stone at all costs.” Tony really wanted to just take it, but he knew that he was pathetically overpowered. 

“Please, if we don’t get that stone, then the future is forfeit. We need to-” 

 

“But if I were to give you the stone, I would doom my timeline to a darker fate, she interrupted. A stream of yellow dust followed her fingers as she demonstrated the dangers of removing a stone from the timeline. “As you can see, it is my job to protect the stone. We would die and watch the world die with us 

“Well if it’s such a big deal, then why’s Stephen give it to Thanos!” Tony exclaimed in frustration. The sorceress’ expression shifted to one of calm interest ot one of surprise. 

“He what?” she asked. 

“The stone. He gave it to Thanos so that he wouldn’t kill me. He kept saying that it was the ‘only way’,” Tony said. “I’m not lying, look! It was one of your sorcerers who gave me this.” They agree with me!” Tony said, holding out the heavy ring. Her eyes widened when she saw it, and Tony had a feeling that he probably should have brought it out earlier. Oh well. 

“Steven Strange gave that to you,” she stated. 

“No, Clea did. Before we left to come back to 2012,” Tony said. The Ancient One didn’t seem to care, though.

“Stephen Strange was said to be the best of us. If he intended for you to come here and get the time stone, then he must have known that you’d be able to bring it back to this exact moment once you were done.” Slowly she opened the Eye of Agamotto and Tony watched as the shimmering, green stone drifted into his outstretched hand. 

“Thank you,” he said. 

“Remember, you must bring the stone back to this exact moment in time, or our timeline is lost,” she said. Tony nodded before hurrying off to join the others. 

“Mr. Stark, one more thing!” she called. 

“Yes?” he asked, turning back. 

“Stephen Strange did give you that ring. Nly the Sorcerer Supreme has access to it. If Clea was the one to bring it to you, then it means that Stephen was already planning on t and had taken it out of the warding,” she said, a smile on her face. With that, she went back to blocking the falling debris, and Tony headed back to the compound. 

 

~

Clint and Natasha trudged up the snowy mountain, wind whipping at the assassin's braid, and tangling in the archer's mohawk. 

“So, any idea where this stone is hiding?” Natasha asked. 

“Not sure, but we better find it fast. I don’t like the look of this place,” Clint replied. “I’m pretty sure this is the place where Thanos was before fighting Stark and his team on Titan,” the archer continued. And where his daughter died. 

“Do we know why he killed her?” Nat asked.

“Well she probably tried to stop him from getting the stone,” Clint said. “I mean, we know that she was on our side. I’ll bet you it was either her or the rock, and he picked the rock.” They continued onward in silence, both unsure of what they would find when they reached the top. 

“Wait, there’s something there,” Natasha said, staring intently at a stone archway a little further up. Clint rested a hand on one of his swords, and Natasha grabbed her batons as they warily approached the archway. Clint looked apprehensive as they drew nearer, while Natasha just looked focused. 

“Welcome, Clint, son of Edith, and Natasha, daughter of Ivan,” a voice echoed through the archway. They watched as a shadowy figure glided towards them. 

“Is that-” Natasha began.

“Red Skull,” Clint finished. “That’s Red Skull.” 

“One, yes, that was my name,” the creature before them agreed. “Now, I am the keeper of the soul stone. I guide others to a treasure I once sought desperately, and can never possess.” 

“Well I guess you’re gonna have to do it one more time,” Natasha said, stepping forward. 

“Very well,” the stone keeper said. He led them past the archway and up onto a large stone ledge. Clint looked over to see a large slab of rock with a perfect circle carved in it below. 

“Alright, where’s the stone?” He demanded. Red Skull watched him calmly before answering. 

“The soul stone possesses a special place amongst the infinity stones. Therefore a price that evenly matches it’s worth must be paid to attain it. A soul, for a soul,” Red Skull explained. Clint felt his mouth run dry as the guardian's words sunk in, and Natasha took a deep breath. A soul for a soul. A life, for billions of others.   
~

Thor, Loki, and Rocket landed in the palace with a crash which Loki had to use magic to make sure the guards didn’t hear. The trickster god couldn’t say he was overjoyed to be back, but it was necessary. It was necessary. 

“Wow, this place is nice,” Rocket commented as they headed down the hallway. “Alright, so when are we? What exactly was going down in Asgard around now?” he continued. 

“Well I was locked in a cell, and Thor was swooning over an Earth-maiden,” Loki replied. “An Earth-maiden who is currently being possessed by the Aether. The reality stone,” he added. 

“Well, then how the Hell are we supposed to get it back?” Rocket demanded. 

“That, sweet rabbit, is why you’re here,” Thor said, handing him a syringe. “Jane Foster should be in my mother’s chambers right now. I need you to extract the Aether from her and bring it back here without getting caught.” 

 

“Well, what are you going to do?” Rocket demanded. 

“I do believe that we had quite an extensive wine cellar here on Asgard, so I think I’ll just-” 

 

“I’ll watch him,” Loki promised, grabbing Thor’s collar and pulling him back. 

“I feel like I’m doing all the work here,” Rocket grumbled as he scampered off to extract the Aether from Jane. Thor and Loki watched him go before suddenly the former was off again. 

“Thor,” Loki hissed, “what are you- oh,” he said, skidding to a halt upon realizing what Thor had seen. Frigga. 

“Mother,” Loki breathed. This was the last day she had been alive, the last day that Loki had ever seen her, and he had turned her away. Rejected her. Before he knew it, he was following Thor. 

“Mother!” Thor called quietly, making the queen turn. 

 

“Thor!” she greeted. “I thought you were training with Lady Sif,” she commented. “What… what are you wearing? And what is on your face?” she asked, taking in his clothes and beard. 

“Oh this, I’m just,” he tried to cover, only for her to rest a hand on his cheek. 

“Oh my son, the future has not been kind to you, has it?” she questioned and Thor’s eyes widened. 

“How did you, I’m not,” he stuttered. 

“I was raised by witches, darling, I know these things,” she said before looking up, eyes settling on Loki who was hanging awkwardly behind the two, unsure how he would be received. 

“Loki,” she said smiling softly. She held out her hand, and the trickster slowly took it. “I take it you and your brother have returned to each other’s sides?” she asked. Loki nodded quickly, struggling to keep his tears at bay. He failed. 

“I’m so sorry, mother,” he sobbed, burying his head in her shoulder. He could feel Thor’s steady hand on his back, and Frigga’s fingers running through his hair. “You’ve always been my mother,” he said. “I didn’t mean what I said, you’re my mother. I don’t care that I’m not your blood son,” he continued. 

“I know,” Frigga assured him. “I know. You have, and always will be, my son. You’re magic has gotten stronger, I can feel it,” she said with a smile. “My sons, together again,” she said, holding both at arm's length to get a good look at them. “The future has not been kind to either of you, I take it,” she said. Neither had to answer as they both knew that she could already tell the answer. Frigga sighed and shook her head. 

“As much as I’d like to think it, I doubt that your journey into the past was to see me alone,” she said. “You must hurry, the next people who spot you probably won’t be as understanding of the situation as myself. Especially to you, Loki,” she said. Loki straightened and brushed the last of his tears away. 

 

“Right,” he said. “I imagine Rocket has gotten the… thing, by now. Quickly, brother, we must go.” He looked at Frigga one last time before quickly turning and heading back to where they were planning to meet Rocket. Thor turned to follow but stopped. 

“Mother… if I know something, something about you that-” 

 

“No, my son,” she cut him off, smiling sadly. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to know. All that matters to me is that I got to see you two, together once more. Whatever may happen, know that my last wish has been granted,” she said. Thor allowed himself to be pulled into one last hug before hurrying after Loki. 

~

Natasha sat on one of the large rocks, staring straight ahead while Clint paced. A soul for a soul. A life for a life. Clint growled in frustration while Natasha remained eerily calm. 

“We don’t even know if this Red Skull dud is telling the truth,” Clint rationalized. 

“He knew our parents,” Natasha argued. 

“Okay, so he knew your father’s name,” Clint said. “So what?” 

 

“Clint, I don’t even know my father’s name,” Natasha shot back. Clint was quiet for a moment, the feeling of Red Skull’s dispassionate eyes on his back eating away at him. 

“So one of us has to die,” he said. 

“I guess they do,” Natasha replied, standing and walking over to Clint. 

 

“I think we both know who that person has to be,” Clint said, and Natasha nodded her agreement. 

“We do.” 

They stared at each other for another minute, neither making any moves to grab the other and haul them over the cliff. 

“Why do I get the feeling we’re thinking of different people,” Clint said, with an achingly familiar smirk. “Natasha…” he began. 

“Clint, it has to be me,” she said. “You need to be there when your family comes back,” she rationalized as Clint grabbed her arm. 

“I can’t let you do this,” he said. “It’s you that the team needs right now, not me. Not after everything I’ve done. You’ll be able to help my family far better than I can now.” Natasha bit her lip but said nothing. Clint pressed their foreheads together and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “Tell my family I love them,” he said, pulling away and running towards the cliff. 

Natasha jumped into action. She threw out her widow’s bites and pinned Clint to the ground, wrist pointing threateningly at him to keep him down.

 

“You can tell them yourself,” she said. Slowly she turned towards the cliff and began to run when the butt of Clint's swords slammed into the back of her leg, knocking her down. 

“I’m sorry, Nat,” Clint said, panting, “but it has to be this way. I love you, you’re my best friend. My sister. I can’t let you do this,” he said. Natasha tried to struggle to her feet, but Clint was already running. He felt a wave of vertigo as he leaped over the edge, and then a weight slam into him as Natasha, quick as lightning, lassoed him to her grappling hook as she jumped over the edge as well. Clint grabbed onto her wrist, desperately trying to pull her back up, but she offered him no help. 

“Clint, look at me,” she said, “it’s the only way.” Clint shook his head in denial, tears streaming freely down his face. 

“Damn you,” he whispered, and Natasha flinched. 

“Get the stone and keep going,” she said, her voice calm and steady. 

“No, Natasha, please don’t, Natasha no,” Clint begged. 

 

“Clint, it’s okay,” she said, staring earnestly up at his pain-stricken face. “I’m okay,” she said again. “I’m okay.” 

“Please?” Clint asked. Natasha gave him a small smile and, not breaking eye contact, pushed off of the cliff face. Clint screamed as she fell, unable to tear his tear-filled eyes away from her own peaceful ones as she plummeted downward. He kept screaming as she hit the rocky slap at the bottom, and continued still as his vision faded to black.

 

~

Clint woke in a pool of water, orange light surrounding him on all sides. He could feel a warm weight in his palm and uncurled his fist to see an orangey gold stone sitting in his hand. 

“I would say congratulations, but I doubt that you are in much of the mood to hear it,” a voice said. He looked up to see a man with dark skin and an orange cloak standing in front of him. His expression was neutral, but Silven could see the pain in his hazel eyes. 

“Who are you?” Clint asked, too tired to get to his feet.

“Silven Drascoue,” the man replied. 

“From Frost’s stories,” Clint recalled. Silven nodded. 

“You’ve got the soul stone. That is not an easy feat,” the mage noted and Clint looked down once again at the stone in his hand. He felt hatred boil through his veins at the sight of it. 

“I know you're questioning whether or not it was worth the cost,” Silven began, “and I can tell you that it was. I will always hurt, but it was worth it.” The mage’s voice sounded like he was holding back tears, and Clint got the feeling that he wasn’t the only one who had lost someone in such a manner. 

 

~

 

Natasha Romanoff had been many things in her life. An assassin, an Avenger, Natalie Rushman, and Auntie Nat when it came to Clint’s children. 

The Red Room had not made up her character. It had created her name, given her skills and purpose, but it had not created her. Her memories, the memories that made up her soul and her morals, were not the Red Room. They were seeing how Tony and his family interrupted as Natalie Rushman. They were at yearly parties at the Avengers tower, and raining with the Junior Avengers. They were dinners at the Barton household and meeting Morgan Stark. They were of bantering with Steve and laughing with Clint They were of sweet moments with Bruce, and heart-to-heart talks with Wanda. 

Natasha Romanoff, the women who everyone saw as the emotionless assassin, was anything but that. She was compassionate, she was loyal, and she was, as of a now, awake.


	8. Downfall: The Future-Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> time travel ensues, Loki gets some closure, there is a snap, and the soul realm prepares for the Endgame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! not much to say here except that when I list something as 'the lost minute' it is during the moment between the Avengers going back and time, and returning to the present. Hope you enjoy!

Present time: Within the Avengers Missing Minute

“What the- where am I?” Natasha asked, slowly sitting up inside what looked to be Tony’s workshop. She tried to think back to the last thing she remembered. She had come down to get her suit with Nebula and Bruce. Yes, she remembered that. 

Tony had gotten Brue his suit first and sent him to get changed while Nebula had taken hers next. Carol had come in briefly to say goodbye as she needed to go back and alert Telos to the development in the infinity stones problem. Natasha couldn’t find her suit, though she remembered looking. All she remembered was suddenly feeling unbearably tired, and seeing a flash of candy red hair before she was out. 

“You’re awake,” a voice said. She turned to see Mestin Garmage sitting on Tony’s worktable, a timer in his hand. 

“What did you do to me?” Natasha demanded to struggle to her feet but swaying slightly. The effects of whatever spell Mestin had put on her had yet to completely wear off. 

“Nothing serious, I just needed to get you out of the playing field or else Silven’s plan would never have worked,” he said thickly. It was then that Natasha noticed that he was crying. 

“Silven’s plan- what happened?” she demanded. Mestin sighed, shaking his head. 

“When Silven came to me and told me that we needed to come to help you guys get the stones from the past, he meant it. The soul stone, the stone you and Clint were meant to retrieve requires a payment that few are willing to give. A soul, for a soul,” Mestn explained. 

“So you’re saying-” Natasha began only to be cut off by the mage. 

“Yes. In order to acquire the stone, you must sacrifice that which you love. Had you gone with Clint Barton, you would have ended up dead.” 

“But if Clint went alone, then how is he supposed to get the stone?” Natasha demanded. Mestin shook his head. 

“He wasn’t alone.” It was then that Natasha remembered the flash of red hair and the tears on Mestin’s face. 

“Emilia,” she breathed. Mestin buried his face in his sleeves when she said the name. Emilia Corvell, Lady Love, was dead. “But Clint didn’t love her… he barely knew her!” 

“He didn’t have to. When Emilia shifts form, her DNA changes to match the person she’s becoming. So long as Clint believed that it was you who was dying, then it would work.” Natasha sat back down. Emilia Corvell was dead in her place, and Clint believed that he had killed her. 

“The other’s will be back in a few seconds,” Mestin said. “You should probably stay here o as not to sare Barton.” Natasha nodded and watched as the mage composed himself and left the workshop. She was alive. Emilia was not.

 

~

Within the time jump

Nebula and Rhodes watched as Peter Quill danced his way towards the large cavern that held the power stone. Rhodes’ expression could rival that of a mother watching her five-year-old son playing with dog poop, while Nebula just looked done. 

“So he’s an idiot?” Rhodey asked while Quill grabbed a little alien creature to use as a microphone. 

“Yes,” came Nebula’s reply. 

“And your sister is dating him?” Rhodey questioned, unable to believe that the man in front of him had a girlfriend. 

“Sadly,” Nebula said. With that she leaped forward and slammed her metal elbow against his head, successfully knocking him unconscious. “He was heading in there, so the stone must be somewhere inside,” she said. Rhodey nodded and followed her in. 

“You know, Tony’s quite fond of you, “he said as they walked through the large, stone hallway. 

“He is an interesting person,” Nebula replied. “He is good at paper football.” Rhodey s unsure as to what that meant but decided that he’d just ask Tony later. 

“You’re a good friend for him to have,” he said. Nebula considered his words before nodding once. 

“I enjoy being his… friend,” she agreed, seeming to test the word out. It occurred to Rhodes that she probably had not had many of those before. “That’s it,” Nebula said, pointing to a black and purple orb contained behind a strange energy field. 

“That looks pretty powerful,” Rhodey said, throwing a rock against it and watching as it disintegrates within seconds. “We should try to find a way to-” He stopped talking as Nebula reached through the field with her robotic arm and grabbed the orb before pulling it back out and handing it to Rhodes. Her arm was burnt and broken but she didn’t seem to care. 

“Or we can just do that,” he said. “Alright, time to jump back,” he said. “Ready?” Nebula gave a no as they prepared to jump forward and return the stone. Rhodey flickered and then was gone back into the quantum realm. Nebula began to follow suit only to collapse, her memory files scrambling and projecting a conversation with Thanos that she knew had never happened. 

“He knows,” she whispered, scrambling to press her back against the wall. “He’s coming here, and he knows,” she said again. Already she could hear the sound of incoming warships. 

 

~

Loki, Thor, and Rocket ran through the palace, the guards only a few hallways behind them. Rocket had been able to lure them away, but they knew that eventually they would be caught again. 

“We have to go now,” Thor said. “They know this palace well, it will only be a matter of minutes until they’re on us again.” Loki nodded, looking around one last time at the palace he used to call home. 

“Alright, everybody ready to go?” he asked. Rocket and Thor nodded. The last glimpse they had was of the guards rounding the corner before they are back in the quantum realm and speeding towards the future-present. 

 

~

Steve and Scott watched from inside the tower as the Avengers talked to S.H.I.E.L.D and Loki were put into cuffs. Bruce was watching from outside the building as the Hulk form would likely draw too much attention, and Tony was on his way. 

“There’s the scepter,” Steve said as he watched it fall into Hydra’s hands. “I’ll go get it. You guys stay here,” he ordered Scott and Bruce. He quickly slipped into the elevator with a very familiar looking group of Hydra agents, Rumlow amongst them. He felt a wave of fury towards the other man, Bucky’s suffering playing through his mind, but kept himself in check. 

“I’ve been instructed to take the scepter from here,” he said. 

“I’m sorry, but I’ve got my orders,” Rumlow said. “This thing’s going straight back to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters.” Steve nodded and waited for a moment before leaning over to Rumlow. 

“Hail Hydra,” he whispered, holding out a hand for the case. Rumlow looked up at him in shock but handed Steve the case nonetheless. One down, one more to go. He wasn’t sure if Tony had gotten the third stone, but he didn’t doubt that it would be their soon enough. 

“I have the scepter,” he alerted the others. 

“Well that’s good because I’ve got the time stone,” came Tony’s reply. “Past-us is heading down the elevator, so let's get downstairs, he said. “All that’s left now is the Tesseract.” One left. Shouldn’t be too hard. 

Turned out that it could be very hard. After giving pst Tony a heart attack, almost losing the scepter, and watching then-evil Loki escape with the space stone, Steve decided that he should really stop jinxing all their missions. Fighting himself had been bad enough, but at least he got his shield back out of it. This though, this was useless. 

“Great. Fucking great, we lost it!” Tony growled, pacing back and forth in the ally they were hiding in. 

“Why don’t we just jump to a different time? Get it some other way?” Bruce asked. 

“Because we only have enough Pym Particles for a one-way trip, that’s why!” Scott snapped. At that Tony stopped, considering. 

“Unless we can get more,” he said. “Rogers, the Tesseract was at shield the entire time before New York, correct?” he asked. 

“Yes, if you don’t count the time Mar-Vell had it,” Steve replied. Tony seemed to be working on something in his head. 

“We could get more particles, and grab the Tesseract in one jump,” the iron hero said finally. Suddenly it hit Steve like a ton of bricks. 

“Oh my God, you’re right,” he said. 

“Right about what? Can someone please fill me in here?” Scott asked. 

“We’d have to time it perfectly, but it shouldn’t be too hard,” Tony was saying as Scott and Bruce both tried to get answers. “We could pull this off,” he said finally.

“I trust you,” Steve said. “Scott, Bruce, take the scepter and the time stone back to the present. Tony and I’ll be right behind you.” The two other heroes, while very confused, did as instructed. 

“You sure about this?” Tony asked. “‘Cause I can do this myself if need be.” Steve shook his head.   
“I owe this to you. To all of you.” Tony nodded and took a deep breath. “S.H.I.E.L.D here we come,” he said before closing his eyes and hitting his button.

~  
The soul realm, the ‘missing minute’

Peter watches as Wanda and Jax practiced their offensive plan for Thanos, he himself had already perfected his webbing technique on a Thanos-shaped pile of rocks. Dr. Strange was talking with T’Challa and Falcon, the latter saying something about needing his portal to appear on the left of Steve while Dr. Strange looked thoroughly amused. 

“Peter, you ready for this?” Oliver asked, coming up beside him. Peter nodded. 

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he said. “Riri’s still practicing blowing up Thanos rock piles with her suit.” 

 

“Yeah, I was just electrocuting a few as well,” Oliver admitted. “We’ve only got a few minutes till we go,” he said. “Emilia just died, so they’re in the past.” Peter cast his eyes to the ground. He had never met Emilia Corvell, but through Frost’s stories, he had gotten to know her. Lady Love, one of Frost’s best spies. He knew that her sacrifice as necessary to save Natasha, but he still wished that he could have met her. 

“Guess we better get ready then,” Peter said. It seemed the others were getting the same idea as they were beginning to gather around Silven. 

“Alright, when you wake up it will be at the same location that you died,” the mage said. “Most of your memories from your time here will be jumbled if not completely wiped, butDr. Strange and I have made sure that you will remember the plan. He will alert Wong and the other sorcerers of your locations and you will be portaled back to the compound. Once you get there, there will be no friendly reunions or time to fill in anyone else. Once we arrive the battle starts,” Silven said. The others nodded and Jax’s darkness swirled quickly around her in anticipation. 

“Can we be expecting anyone else from Enexion?” Stephen asked the mage. 

“I’ll see what I can do. My first priority will be getting to Earth from Enexion, but I’ll try to make contact with some of my friends,” he said. “Olive,r your first priority is to find Orûk. You will not be able to survive long without him. Don’t waste any energy fighting unless you have no other choice.” The ex-assassin nodded his agreement and they all turned towards the orangey light of the soul realm to await the resurrection. 

~

The retrieval of the Tesseract was a surprisingly easy process given all the trouble it had given them throughout the years, Tony thought. Sure, he could have gone without a run-in with his father, but all things considered, it could have been way worse. 

“You got the particles?” he asked Steve. 

“Right here, the Tesseract?” the soldier questioned. 

“Boom,” Tony said, holding up his briefcase. Steve nodded and they ducked behind a building to prepare their suits to return to their present. 

 

~

Nebula woke up to the sound of a horrifyingly familiar voice. Her eyes slowly opened to see herself staring at a mirror reflection of herself. Gamora stood behind her. 

“You disgust me,” Nebula watched herself say as a knife slide under the copper piece that Tony had given her to make protect her wiring. “But you still have your uses,” she noted. 

“He doesn’t care about you, he never will,” Nebula forced out. Her past self paid her no mind, and so she turned to Gamora. 

“Do you know what he does to you to get the soul stone?” she asked. “You don’t live to see his success.” Gamora stared at her for a second before hurrying after her sister to Thanos’ throne. They would send past-Nebula to the future, Nebula realized, and the Avengers wouldn’t have a clue. She struggled weakly against the chains keeping her strapped to the ship, but she knew it was useless. Her arm was already damaged, and even without the wounds, she doubted she would have been able to break through. 

Nebula stared blankly at the wall in front of her until the sound of footsteps brought her attention back to the present. She looked up to see Gamora standing over her. 

“In the future…” Gamora began, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “In the future, what are we?” she asked. Nebula looked at her calculatingly before deciding that the question was sincere, and not just a trap to get information. 

“We’re sisters,” Nebula said. Gamora looked at her thoughts for a moment before reaching out her hand. 

“Then let’s go.” 

~

Tony and Steve reappeared to see Bruce, Scott, Loki, Thor, and Rocket already there. A few seconds Later Rhodey popped up followed quickly by Clint and then Nebula. 

“Clint, where’s Nat?” Steve asked, looking around. Tony squeezed his eyes shut as to avoid having to see the broken expression on Clint’s face. To avoid having to have to see the dawning horror on the faces of the others. 

“Did you get the soul stone?” Mestin asked coming into the room. Tony could see that while his face was clear, his eyes were red from crying. Cint nodded silently and handed his the orangey goldstone. Mestin nodded and turned to someone in the doorway before nodding. Natasha Romanoff stepped out. 

“Nat?” Clint asked weakly, stumbling forward. “I- I don’t understand,” he was saying shaking badly. 

“Natasha, take him to sit down,” Tony said. She nodded her head and led Clint over to the nearest chair. 

“You died, I watched you fall-” Natasha shook her head. 

“You watched Emilia Corvell fall,” Mestin said. “When Silven contacted us and told us to come here, he told me what would happen to Natasha. He also told me that we had to stop her from dying and that Emilia was our only chance. When Natasha went down to get her uniform, I put a spell on her and Emilia took her place.” 

“I had everyone wear the helmets so that people wouldn’t realize it was her,” Tony said. “Stephen let me in on the plan as well,” he informed them. “We had to make sure that you thought it was really Natasha or else you wouldn’t have gotten the stone,” he said, looking at Clint. “I’m so sorry.” 

“Guys, we need to get the stones on the gauntlet,” Natasha said, looking around. That snapped them back into action. 

“Right, I’ve got the gauntlet right here,” Tony said, grabbing it from where it was sitting by the door to his workshop. Nebula hung back as they decided that Bruce would wield the gauntlet, and when they sealed themselves inside the room where they would perform the reverse-snap, she quickly made her way over to the time machine. 

“Father, they have the stones. I’m bringing you through now,” she said, reactivating the machine. 

 

“It’s like I’m made for this,” Bruce said, sliding the gauntlet onto his hand. 

“Be careful, big guy,” Clint warned, still leaning heavily on Natasha. The emotional drain was taking its toll on the archer. They all watched as Bruce carefully examined the gauntlet, weighing it on his hand. 

“Too late to turn back now,” he said. Then, without so much as a breath, he snapped. There was a flash and they heard Bruce yell in pain as the power of the infinity stones coursed through him, eating away at his arm and neck. Everyone got up from where they had crouched down slowly, looking around in confusion. Bruce yanked the gauntlet off and cradled his mangled arm to his chest while Tony told F.R.I.D.A.Y to bring up the metal coverings that he’d had brought down to reinforce the windows and doors. Scott slowly approached the now clear windows and watched as a flock of birds flew around in a panic. 

“Guys, I think it worked,” he said, watching as they slowly settled. Then everything blew up. 

 

~

When Bruce Banner reversed the snap, the dusted could tell instantly. The orangey gold light of the soul realm began to flicker and dim, and those with magical abilities could feel the regular, steady rhythm of the stone’s power ebbing. 

“Dr. Strange?” Peter asked nervously, moving closer to the other man. He smiled when the Cloak of Levitation wrapped one of its corners around his shoulder. 

“It’s starting,” the sorcerer said. “Everyone remembers the plan?” he asked anxiously. They all nodded. Normally they would be annoyed by the constant nagging about the same plan, but they could all understand Stephen’s fear. Even if they were to succeed with their original plan, it would mean the death of Tony. Hopefully, the introduction of Silven and his people on the battlefield would produce a better outcome. 

“We’ll make sure he survives,” Wanda said at his other side. Stephen nodded 

“Remember, once everyone’s back, start portalling people to the compound. More sorcerers will join you, but we need to start getting people across as quickly as possible,” Stephen said. Wanda nodded in determination. “Jax, you sure you’ll be able to teleport you and Silven back to Earth?” he asked. The Shadow Wielder nodded shortly. 

“I can teleport us through the Nox in under five minutes,” she confirmed. Silven looked like he’d rather be using any other means of transportation, but remained silent. 

“Bring as many people as you can,” Stephen said. Silven nodded his agreement right as the first large crack appeared in the soul realm energy.


	9. Downfall: endgame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As you can guess from the chapter title, the Endgame begins. Thanos arrives on Earth, the dusted Avengers escape the soul realm, and there is a snap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is basically the final version of what was in the preview t this fic. AS you can probably guess, I've changed a lot so that it fits with what's happened so far, but f parts look familiar, it's because you've read it before.

The blast destroyed the entire compound once more and scattered everyone inside. Clint woke up to a fuzzy feeling in his head and a sense of urgency that he couldn’t quite place. Something was wedged under his chest, and he slowly looked down to see a large glove made of gold and red. 

“Oh shit,” he said, recognizing the tell-tale glitter of the infinity stones. “I got the gauntlet.” “I got the gauntlet.” Slowly he got onto his feet, the gauntlet tucked under his arm. He looked to be in a sewage pipe and had a feeling that, given the chaos around him, he had been quite lucky. 

“This is Hawkeye, does anyone copy?” he asked into the coms. 

“Hey Hawkeye, I copy,” said Tony’s voice. 

“Any idea what that was?” Asked Natasha. 

“Thanos,” Tony said. “I’d recognize the ship anywhere.” Clint looked around but could find no sign of Natasha. 

“How? That’s impossible, Thanos is dead!” he exclaimed. 

“Evidently not as dead as we’d hoped,” Steve said. 

“That or it isn’t this Thanos,” Natasha offered. “I mean, if we can time travel, then why not him?” They all paused at that. Shit. 

~

“Copy Does anyone copy!” Rhodey yelled into his coms. “I’m stuck I can’t- ah!” he was cut off as water splashed into his face. He was trapped underneath the rubble of the compound, the War Machine armor doing little to help his attempt to escape. 

“Rhodes!” Bruce yelled. “I’m gonna lift this, and you crawl out!” he called. With that the hulk heaved a large stone pillar up above his shoulders, taking the weight of the rest of the rubble as well. 

“Ironman, come in, Black Widow, do you read me?” Rhodey called as he clambered out from under the rubble. “Banner and I are trapped under the compound, we need help! We can’t hold on for much longer!” he called into the coms. 

“I copy,” Scott Lang said, his voice disjointed and static. “I’m on my way.” 

~

Clint stumbled forward through the large pipe, unsure where he was going or how he was going to get there. He sighed in annoyance before freezing, a soft rustling making the hairs on the back of his neck stick up. Slowly he turned towards the other direction of tunnel and knocked one of his explosive arrows, sending it firing into the darkness. At least fifty alien creatures were revealed by the light, all chittering in excitement. 

“Oh damn,” Clint said before grabbing the gauntlet and sprinting down the tunnel, the sound of galloping feet not far behind him. 

“It’s Thanos,” he called into the coms. “It’s definitely Thanos! He’s after the glove!” 

“Then we’ve got to keep it moving,” Natasha said. “We can’t let him get it.” 

“You think I don’t know that?” Clint snapped, launching an arrow upward and letting it pull him up and out of the sewer tunnel. He flopped onto the ground of the new level he found himself on and turned onto his back to find Nebula looking down at him. 

“Oh hey, yeah, I know you,” he said. Wordlessly, she held out her hand for the gauntlet and Clint passed it to her. 

“Father, I’ve retrieved the stones,” she said into a com that was most definitely not the one that Tony had taken the time to build into her head in such a way that it would cause her no discomfort, unlike the one Thanos had ruthlessly installed. 

“Wait, what?” Clint asked as Nebula turned to leave.

“Nebula!” a voice called. They both turned to see a green woman with black and magenta hair and another Nebula standing in the doorway. 

“What. Is. Happening,” Clint groaned, letting his head fall back against the ground. He was very much done with the past hour. 

“Nebula, don’t do this. You’re better than this, we both are,” the woman said. 

“Really, Gamora, you’d betray father?” The Nebula with the gauntlet asked. So this was the infamous Gamora, Clint realized. 

“We are better than this,” the other Nebula said, and Clint realized that this one must be the one that they all knew. The Nebula holding the gauntlet was from the past. Past-Nebula only shook her head, grabbing one of her guns and aiming it at Gamora. 

“Out of my way, sister, you know that I will fire,” Past-Nebula warned. 

“Nebula, please-” Gamora implored only to be cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Both Clint and Gamora looked up startled to see their Nebula standing, gun still pointed at her past self. 

“She was beyond saving,” was all she offered before grabbing the gauntlet out of her dead duplicates hands. “Come on.” 

~

Tony watched in horror as Thanos’ ships landed on what was once the lawn of the Avengers compound. The woods where Peter had hidden in the tree after discovering Steve’s betrayal of his privacy was completely gone, and the clearing where Stephen had taken him for lunch only a few days before the start of the Infinity War was demolished. 

“Oh my God,” Steve said, coming up beside him. He heard Thor approach on the other side, Mjolnir in one hand, and Stormbreaker in the other. With a strike of lightning,, Tony could sense he was at full power once more. 

“I’ve got eyes on him,” came Natasha’s voice, and Tony looked up to see her on the opposite side of where the Mad Titan was exiting his ship. He had far more armor than Tony remembered him wearing, and rather than wielding the stone’s like his only weapon, this Thanos held a large sword-like object. He smirked when he saw them.

“I take it you are the Avengers I saw in my daughter's mind,” he stated. “I’ve seen how you fought me on Titan, and I’ve seen how you lost. You couldn’t deal with your failure, and look where it’s brought you. Back to me,” he said in the same monologuing voice that plagued Tony’s nightmares. 

“It seems that even though I succeeded in my quest, there was no peace. I should have realized that as long as there were those who remembered what was, there never could be any. Thank you, Stark, for showing me the error in my plans. I will not free only half the population. I will destroy it all. Build a new universe where all will live in peace.” 

 

“A universe built on the blood of trillions,” Tony said, walking forward to meet the titan. 

“They won’t know it,” Thanos replied, uncaring. 

“No they won’t, because they won’t be around to see it,” Natasha said, leaping onto Thanos’ back and digging an unfamiliar blade between his shoulder blades. “This is the sword of Emilia Corvell of Enexion, and you will pay for her death,” she hissed. Thanos roared in anger and threw her off. Tony’s armor closed around him and he flew straight at the titan, Peter and Riri’s scared faces reflecting in his mind. Stephen’s last words to him and his reassuring smile. The ring that still sat heavily in his pocket. 

Lightning crackled as Thor flew forward with both weapons and Steve threw his shield as he charged. Tony knew that they wouldn't expect any backup from Scott as he had said something about needing to save Rhodey and Bruce, which took them out of the equation as well. Clint was somewhere with Nebula and the gauntlet, and Natasha, while having done the most damage so far, was currently unconscious. It was down to the three of them. 

~

The soul realm cracked apart like an erupting volcano. It twisted and fell in on itself, crumbling away slowly to allow small things through, and then bigger and bigger beings back into the real world. As soon as they could, Jax and Silven escaped so that they had more time to get anyone who would go with them and return to Earth. Next, those in Wakanda went, Wanda giving Peter and Stephen quick hugs before hurrying through. Finally, it was there turn. 

“Remember, the portal’s gotta be on his left,” Sam said. Stephen wanted to roll his eyes but was too nervous to do so. Instead, he did as the soldier requested and opened the portal beside the weakened Rogers. 

“Cap, do you copy?” Wilson asked, not yet stepping through.   
~

Steve felt nothing but pain as he stared out at Thanos and his army. His shield was in pieces around him, and he held on tightly to the last large half. He thought about Bucky and Sam, trapped in the void with Peter, Riri, and Oliver. About Tony and his daughter and about the fallen Emilia Corvell who had sacrificed her life so that they, a group of heroes she had known for only a few minutes, would have a chance to fight Thanos. He grit his teeth and took a shaky step forward. Then another.  
Bucky, fading away with nothing but fear in his eyes.  
Another step.  
Frost’s anguished scream when Oliver faded away and he was left without a corporeal form or his best friend.  
Two more.  
The look in Tony’s eyes when he came back from space with Nebula and Carol.  
One more step forward.  
“Cap, do you copy?” a voice asked. Steve stopped walking, unable to believe what he was hearing.  
“I copy,” he said, voice barely a whisper.  
“On your left,” the voice said. He turned slowly and saw a familiar golden portal begin to open up on his left while a scarlet one opened upon his right. Three figures began to appear through the portal he knew to be Wanda’s, and soon he found himself looking at T’Challa, Shuri, and Okoye. The King of Wakanda gave him a nod right as Sam came swooping through the gold portal, and hundreds of others opened up around him. Sorcerer's swarmed around Thanos’ army, Clea and Wong standing at its head.   
Riri landed beside Harley along with Pepper, all of whom walked forward to stand with Tony. A portal opened to Titan, and Steve saw Strange, who he took to be the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Peter walk through it. A dark portal that looked almost to be made of shadows opened beside Wanda and a man in an orange cloak like Mestin’s stepped through along with a dark-haired woman with angry, green eyes, two soldiers wearing armor made from a golden material Steve didn’t recognize, and a woman encased in shadows who seemed to be the one keeping the portal open. He looked up to see Scott grow to be the size to two empire state buildings, Rhodey and Hulk sitting on his outstretched hand, and smirked. Steve heard T’Challa start up the Wakandan chant that he had heard before the Battle of Wakanda, and he felt a final rush of strength fill him. 

“Avengers,” he called as the last of their troops joined them. “Assemble.” With that, a cry went up, and they charged forward. 

~  
Tony shot into the air and dove down into the heat of the battle. He could see Stephen and Wong leading half the sorcerer's while Wanda and Clea lead the rest. Steve, Bucky, and Sam are running with T’Challa, Shuri, and Okoye as they pave the way to Thanos. 

“Well I see someone likes her new armor,” he said to Pepper. 

“Really? Now?” Pepper asked as she threw back a wave of Thanos’ minions. Tony smiled to himself and flew lower to help the newly returned Riri keep back Corvus Glaive. 

“Tony!” she said. “I don’t remember much, only Strange’s plan… what happened?” she questioned. Tony’s mind flashed back to Titan. To the look of fear as she slowly disintegrated away to nothing, and the horror on Peter’s face as he watched one of his best friends fade away. He had yet to realize that he would be suffering the same fate. 

“I’ll explain later, Ironheart, right now we’ve just gotta get through this,” Tony said. He felt a stab of gratefulness when Bucky ran over and leap onto Corvus, using his metal arm to break his staff. 

“Where’s Frost?” Riri asked. “Oliver isn’t going to be able to survive on his own,” she said. 

“He should be here. We haven't exactly been able to see him as he refused to take another host. We’re just gonna have to hope he finds Oliver,” he grit out as he blasted Corvus backward and allowed Bucky to take an opening to kill the child of Thanos. 

“Good job Winter Boo-Bear, ten outta ten,” Tony said before shooting off to join the fighting elsewhere. 

“Mr. Stark!” A voice called, making him freeze. “Mr. Stark! Woah!” it said. He turned slowly to see Peter skidding to a halt behind him. “This is crazy! I remember we were on Titian and then Riri was suddenly just gone, and then we were all in the glowy orange place and I don’t remember much, but Dr. Strange was saying something about a plan and-” Peter was cut off when Tony pulled him into a hug. “Oh- this is nice,” he said. 

“Come on, kid, we’ve got work to do,” Tony said. He flew up and Peter used his webbing to follow suit only for them both to suddenly be shot down.   
Tony’s ears rung as he slowly sat up and saw Peter doing the same. When the dust cleared he felt fear seize him as he realized that it was Thanos standing over them. 

“Insect,” the titan growled as he pushed the hilt of his blade against Peter’s chest, forcing the air to leave his lung. Tony lunged forward, but one large, purple hand, kept him back. He struggled desperately against Thanos as the titan crushed Peter into the ground, but not even the full strength of the ironman armor could best Thanos. 

 

“RAUGH!” a shriek filled the air followed by a blast of scarlet energy hitting Thanos and sending him flying backward. Wanda landed in front of the two fallen heroes, scarlet magic pooling around her. 

“You took everything from me…” she whispered as Thanos rose again. The Titan only smirked. 

“I don’t even know who you are,” he stated cruelty. 

“You will,” Wanda replied. Her eyes began to glow, and all the surrounding rocks glowed with energy as they rose into the air. Magic crackled around them, and scarlet jets of power shot out and wrapped around the mad titan. She gave another furious yell, and Thanos’ armor began peeling apart. She ripped metal away from him, leaving the titan completely undefended. Suddenly a stream of what looks to be pure darkness joined Wanda’s red, and another woman stepped out from behind Thanos’ hulking form. She looked to be the same age as Wanda and was wearing dark armor that writhed around her like a living thing. In her hand was a deadly looking scythe. 

“Woah, Hey Jax!” Peter said, still trying to regain his breath. 

Thanos struggled to rip himself free of the two women's holds, but their combined power was quickly becoming too much for him. 

“Drop the firebombs!” he yelled at Corvus Glaive. 

“But sir, our troops-”  
“Just do it!” Thanos yelled the order was passed up to the ships, and soon firebombs were raining down on them, successfully blasting Wanda back. Jax growled and tightened her hold on Thanos, the darkness spiraling out of her hands and wrapping itself around the Mad Titan. Jax gave a cry as she was throw away, Ebony Maw gliding slowly forward, pointed rocks flying at the Shadow Wielder on his command. Thanos, already recovered from their attack, turned to Wanda. He grabbed his blade and began bearing down on the Scarlet Witch. It looked for a moment like he was winning until with an impressive blast of red, both parties were thrown backward. 

Over the comms, Clint and Nebula were saying something about Gamora, and a second Nebula. All that really registered though was that the gauntlet was moving, and it needed to be protected. 

“Kid, you alright?” Tony asked, pulling Peter to his feet and letting him lean against his shoulder while he struggled to breathe. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got this, I’m good,” he said. His breath was mostly back and that would have to be good enough for now.

“Good. Then go watch the gauntlet,” Tony ordered. Peter gave a nod and ran off to do as he was ordered. Tony watched him go and turned back to the newcomer to ask who she was when a bang shook the ground, and both looked up to see an explosion of ice racing towards Thanos’ army. 

“Frost,” Tony said right as the shadow woman whispered ‘Orûk’. So he had been right… this was one of Frost’s friends from his life before coming to Earth. 

“Tony Stark… who are you?” he asks, holding a hand out. 

“You probably won’t get an answer, she can’t talk much when she’s actively using her power. It takes to much concentration to keep them reigned in,” Frost & Oliver said as they appeared from the cloud of ice. The woman nodded at Frost before vanishing in a cloud of shadows only to reappear several yards away in the heat of the battle. 

“Good to have you two back in the game,” Tony said. 

“Oliver is glad to have returned,” Frost responded. 

 

Peter jumped through the battle trailing after Wanda as she carried the gauntlet. His vision was blurred from Thanos’ attack, but he forced himself onward as the battle raged around him. This was all part of Dr. Strange’s plan, he told himself. Shadow Wielder and Wanda had pulled their attack off flawlessly, and now it was his turn to help protect the gauntlet until more help could arrive. 

“Peter!” Wanda yelled, throwing the gauntlet to him as she was swarmed by Thanos’ army. Peter’s instincts screamed at him to go back and help her fight as she became overwhelmed by creatures, but he knew he couldn’t. Dr. Strange had made it very clear that the gauntlet was the most important thing. 

“Karen, activate instant kill!” he instructed as he became surrounded by Thanos’ creatures. The spider legs attached to his suit sprang into action and he grinned as the monsters surrounding him were ripped apart. He half ran and half swung across the battlefield, very narrowly dodging multiple, would-be-fatal attacks. He was mid-leap when suddenly an explosion blasted him sideways into the rocky ground. Peter clutched the gauntlet tightly to his chest and curled around it, hoping against hope that this blast had not been caused by Thanos. When the dust cleared, however, it was not the Mad Titan standing before him. 

“Hello, Peter Parker,” Carol said with a slight smirk. 

“Woah, oh hey Carol,” Peter said. “M-mr. Stark told me to protect the gauntlet,” he said. 

“I’ve got it, kid, don’t worry. Scott and Hope need it at the van,” Carol said. Peter let her take the large glove and watched as her signature golden glow surrounded her. 

“I don’t know how you’re gonna make it through all that,” he said as he stared at the uncrossable path in front of them. 

“Don’t worry, she has helped,” Okoye said from behind him, Riri by her side. They were soon joined by Pepper and a woman that Peter didn’t recognize who was riding a winged horse. Shuri and Kamala quickly blocked an array of blaster shots for hitting the group, and Peter watched in amazement as they paved a way through the battlefield. A green woman who Peter guessed from Nebula’s description was Gamora along with Mantis, and Wanda soon joined them. 

“That’s bad-ass,” Peter stated. 

“Spider-man, we could use some back-up over here,” Harley’s voice said over the com. Peter looks around to see the Iron Savior fighting alongside Black Panther and Falcon. 

“On it,” Peter replied. His part in the plan so far was complete, and so he supposed he just got to do whatever until he was needed again. With that thought, he swung over to where the others were fighting. 

“Karen, instant kill!” he yelled. 

~

Stephen worked with Wong and the other sorcerers to fight Thanos’ army while keeping an eye on the events unfolding around them. So far all was going according to the plan. Jax was switching between fighting of Thanos’ army with her darkness, and portaling other Enexion heros over to help. So far she had brought back who Silven called the Golden Pair, the two greatest soldiers in Mirval, Mineu, Queen of Ferwan, a being he referred to only as ‘The Trickster’ and Maxen and Amira Capriol. From the sounds of it, their mother was on her way as well. 

“Strange! Spider-man has passed on the gauntlet to Carol!” Bucky called through the coms channel that Stephen had created solely for those who knew the plan. 

“Good, all’s good over here. Where’s the Shadow Wielder?” he asked. While she was an aly, her powers were volatile, and he didn’t fully trust her ability to remain in control of the darkness that possessed her in such a stressful environment. 

“She’s doing fine,” Frost’s voice cut in. “I’m not sure how you and Silven did it, but it seems that she has control.”

“Good,” said Silven said into the com. I’d rather not have a repeat experience of The Dria incident,” he said. Strange sent a blastwave through the oncoming wave of creatures and looked around nervously for Tony. He had not gotten a proper chance to see the man before the fighting had started. 

“He’s to your left,” Wong said as if sensing what Stephen was doing. 

“Tony!” he called. The Iron Man was currently fighting alone, swarms of Thanos’ monsters overrunning him. “Do you have it handled here?” Stephen asked Wong. The other sorcerer nodded and made a shooing motion as if telling Stephen to hurry up and leave. 

There was a flash from the arc reactor and an explosion of light through back the oncoming enemies. 

“Tony!” Stephen called again, the cloak flying him forward and depositing him beside the Avengers. His face was hidden, but Stephen could practically see the grin behind the other man’s faceplate. 

“Stephen! I’ve missed you!” he yelled over the noise. Stephen wanted to say more, but just then Oliver’s voice came over the coms. 

“That’s romantic and all, but in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re kind of fighting for the survival of the universe at the moment. So could you do us all a favor and get your heads into it!” the assassin snapped. 

“Oh, go hide in the mind palace,” Tony snapped back. It was probably no use, for Frost would have been just as sharp if not a bit blunter had he been in control. “Where’s Thanos?” Tony asked Stephen. The sorcerer only shook his head. 

“No one’s had eyes on him since he blasted back Wanda and Jax,” Stephen said. Tony took ‘Jax’ to be the woman with the shadows. 

“Well guess you just jinxed it,” Came Carol’s voice, though she sounded strained. “Cause guess who just popped up?” Every head jerked in Carol’s direction to see that indeed, Thanos had re-appeared. 

“My team, with me!” Tony shouted into the coms. Sam, T’Challa, and Rhodey gave similar orders. Carol was a bit too pre-occupied to order her team to converge, but they got the message. All the Delta teams, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Warriors of Enexion charged at Thanos. Okoye called the Dora through her vibranium bead, and they all leaped over rubbled and dodged numerous attacks to join her as they fought against Thanos. 

Steve leaped at Thanos with Bucky by his side as Sam dived at him from above along with Ironheart and Iron Savior, Spider-man swinging behind them. He saw Wanda’s magic wrap itself around his large sword, and with a yell, she snapped the blade in half. With a scream of rage, the titan threw them all back and grabbed the gauntlet from Carol. The galactic warrior growled and held the gauntlet tighter. Thanos’ head smashed forward in an attempt to knock the woman out, but Carol just glared harder, the Titan's attack bouncing harmlessly off of her. 

Steve pushed himself up just in time to see Thanos rip the space stone from the gauntlet, and blast Carol backward. Not even she was strong enough to black the full power of an infinity stone. The titan grinned as he slipped the gauntlet onto his hand and Steve felt dread fill him. This was the end. 

Suddenly a figure in black jumped forward, Emilia’s sword swinging downward to slice at Thanos’ arm. Natasha snarled as she dodged Thanos’ other hand and continued to cut at the arm that held the gauntlet. She was thrown back once more, the sword being thrown from her hands. She leaped back to her feet only to see Pepper Potts land in front of her. 

“Yes!” Drax yelled as Pepper blasted Thanos’ gauntlet with the arc reactor in her suit. Riri Williams landed beside her along with Tony, all three focusing all their power on the stones. With a bang, both the iron heroes and Thanos all being thrown backward. 

Stephen’s ears rang as he scrambled to his feet and watched as Thanos did the same. Pepper was back on her feet already, and Riri and Tony were beginning to rise as well. Thanos’ raised his hand and smirked up at Stephen, fingers preparing to close in a snap… and then they weren’t. 

A wall of red slammed into Thanos, and Stephen looked up to see Wanda floating at last ten feet above the rest of them. He could feel her putting all of her energy into keeping Thanos down, her power trying to dislodge the stone and take out the mad Titan all at once. 

“Silven, Mestin, new plan,” Stephen said. “I need you two get up there and help Wanda. Wong, Clea, you take the left, I’ve got the right,” he said. 

 

“On it,” Clea replied, landing beside him.

Silver and orange beams of energy shot forward to join Wanda’s magic as Silven and Mestin did as Stephen instructed, and the sorcerer supreme began sending out his own blasts of power at the titan.

Thanos was forced to his knees, the energy surrounding him requires the power of all the stones to keep back. 

Suddenly Wanda gave a cry and was falling, Ebony Maw, floating behind her. The child of Thanos grinned as she fell, and Clea screamed in anger, her own energy being turned against the opposing sorcerer. With Wanda’s magic gone along with Clea’s, Thanos broke free with an angry yell, throwing everyone backward. 

 

“Stephen! What do we do!” Tony asked. Stephen turned slowly to face him, trying as hard as he could to keep his expression neutral, though he knew he was failing. 

“There’s only one way,” he said quietly. He could almost see the exact moment that Tony realized what he had to do. Could see the way his expression crumbled. Slowly he turned towards Thanos and lunged forward, putting all of his strength into the suit to stop Thanos from snapping. Stephen’s eyes widened when another form leaped at Thanos too. He watched as Nebula leaped forward, and grabbed at the gauntlet along with Tony. She screamed in rage as they fought, all of her hatred for her father boiling over. Natasha ran to them as well, Emilia’s sword back in her hands. They fought for only thirty seconds, all three of them being thrown back by the enraged titan. Tony grabbed Nebula’s shoulder allowing some of the nanotech from his own suit crawl over the destroyed metal of her mechanical arm. He took Emilia's sword which now had a large crack in the hilt from Thanos’ and gripped the hilt tightly before allowing Natasha to grab it as well. 

“You should know by now, Stark, I am inevitable,” he said, a sickening smile on his face as he brought his hand up and snapped his fingers. The world froze as the snap rang out, everyone waiting for the inevitable blast wave that never came. Thanos looked down in confusion to see the gauntlet void of all stones. 

“Well I. Am. Ironman,” Tony said, raising his hand to show the power, space, and time stones. Nebula’s metal hand, which was gripped tightly in his own carried the soul and mind stones, and the reality stone glittered from where Tony had welded it into the crack in Emilia’s sword which was held by both Natasha and himself. He glanced at Natasha and Nebula who both nodded, and he squeezed their hands tightly, his mind focused on exactly what he wanted to happen. 

A blast of energy shook the Earth, and all the fighting froze. Slowly, Thanos’ armies began to stagger, every last being fading away to dust. Stephen watched in satisfaction as Ebony Maw faded away, and Wanda grinned as the Black Dwarf was dissolved. Thanos said nothing as he slowly removed his helmet and sat down, his expression not changing as he began to fade away. Suddenly though, he was wrapped in darkness. Stephen’s head snapped up to see Jax Simone standing a few yards away, her lips curled in a snarl. 

“I have a better plan for you,” she hissed, all of her energy aimed solely at his heart. Stephen watched in fascination horror as the darkness encircled Thanos, dragging him deeper and deeper within it until he was completely gone. 

“Is he…?” Stephen began

“Banished to the nox,” Silven replied. The remains of Thanos’ forces floated through the air like ash and Stephen slowly turned to see Tony sitting between Nebula and Natasha, head leaning back against a large chunk of the compound and breath coming in shallow gasps. Natasha didn’t look much better, the arm that was holding Emilia’s sword covered in horrible burns and her chest rising and falling at uneven intervals. Nebula was curled against Tony’s side, her arm melted away almost completely and her body burned just as bad as Tony and Natasha. All of their hands were still intertwined. 

“Tony!” Stephen yelled, running over to check on the other man, his mind slipping into doctor mode. “Tony, can you hear me?” he asked desperately. A small smile graced Tony’s features and he nodded, eyes settling on Stephen. 

“When we get back, you’ve got to meet Morgan,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “Y-you’d love her,” he forced out. Stephen nodded eyes filling with tears. 

“I know, I can’t wait to meet her, but you’re going to need to be there to introduce us,” he said. Rhodey was the next to appear, reaching out to rest his hand under Tony’s jaw. They seemed to communicate silently before Rhodey nodded once and stepped back only for Peter to take his place immediately after, Harley Riri and Kamala hot on his trail. 

“Mr. Stark, we won,” Peter said, tears already falling freely down his face. “We won tony, we did it… lLease don't’ go, Please Mr. Stark, don’t leave,” he whispered. 

“It’s okay, kid,” he whispered, allowing Peter to hug him before Pepper came over. She flipped back her face mask and crouched in front of the three, her eyes roaming over Natasha, Tony, and Nebula. 

“We won,” she finally said, her voice choked with emotion. “We’re going to be okay. You can rest now,” she whispered, leaning in and pressing a kiss to Tony’s cheek. Tony smiled at her, but slowly shook his head. 

“Stephen…” he whispered. “I found another way,” he said. “But if you keep on just sitting there crying rather than portaling me to a hospital, then the results are not gonna be any different than what you saw,” Tony said. Stephen gave a choked laugh and felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. 

“I can bring Natasha,” Wanda offered, looking down at her mentor. Stephen nodded up at her, and she removed her hand from his shoulder and opened her own scarlet portal, gently maneuver the barely conscious Natasha through it and into the ER on the other side. 

Stephen opened a portal for Tony and was prepared to get Wong to open one for Nebula only for Tony to refuse t let go of her hand. 

“My scary blue space daughter is staying with me,” he murmured, still half asleep. Stephen didn’t need to think hard to figure out who inspired the wording. 

“Parker, I swear to God,” he grumbled, supporting both Tony and Nebula through the portal. They were okay. They were going to be okay.


	10. We're Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter, and healing time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, as you probably guessed, this is the final chapter. I'm so thankful for all of my readers for staying with me through this journey, and I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did. That being said, this chapter mostly serves to wrap things up, and contains the Steve and Bucky ending that we DESERVED BUT DIDN'T FRICKEN GET! (so not bitter or anything!) 
> 
> ALSO: I am thinking about writing a few one-shots based during 'The Shadows are Just Reflections' focused on Wanda's training with Stephen and maybe a few scenes with Tony and the New Avengers. I'll happily take requests, so comment if you want me to do that, or if you have any ideas. 
> 
> That's all for now!

The world was restored, but for the Avengers it was still broken. Tony had yet to wake up. Nebula had been in and out and Natasha was conscious, but Tony was completely out of it. Stephen, Pepper , and Rhodey sat constantly by his bedside, Happy coming in with Morgan every so often. They all knew that he would have been staying there permanently as well had it not been for all of the work that he had to figure out. 

“Any change?” Wanda asked, peering into the room from the door. 

“No, but he’s holding on. I’m just not sure why it’s taking this long,” Stephen said with a sigh. Pepper had gone to get a coffee and Rhodey was with Happy and Morgan, having promised to get the little girl ice cream to try and cheer her up. Wanda slowly entered the room and took one of their empty seats. They sat in silence for a few moments before the young sorceress spoke again. 

“You know, eight years ago, I would have liked nothing better than to see this,” she said. “I wanted him dead, and I thought that nothing could possibly change my opinion of him. I never considered that he might have a family. That he had people that would actually care about him. When I saw him with the other Avengers, it just fueled my beliefs. They didn’t care about him then and I figured that it meant no one did.”

“And now?” Stephen asked. 

“Now… now I think that I might be one of the people that I didn't’ believe could exist. Now if you were to tell me that he wasn’t going to wake up, I think I’d be upset,” she whispered. Stephen grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. 

“It won’t come to that,” he said. “He’ll be awake and back to being his annoying self in no time,” Stephen said, reaching out and taking Tony's hand. He felt something cold and metallic against his fingers and looked down to see the ring that he had been planning to give Tony before infinity war on his finger. Wanda smiled when she saw it. 

“Clea told me that you’d spent the week before Thanos debating whether or not you should propose,” she said. She gave it to him that he’d have proof of knowing you when he went back in time, but I’m pretty sure that it was just her shipping you two hard,” she explained before getting up to go check on Natasha. She paused at the door and turned. 

“You know, I’m pretty sure he’d say yes, you know,” she said before heading back down the hallway. 

~

Natasha had many visitors during her time in the hospital, the most frequent being Wanda, Steve, Bucky, Clint, and Sam. That was why when the door opened later that night, Natasha expected it to be one of them. It was not. 

“Mestin,” she greeted. “I didn’t expect to see you,” she said. The mage shrugged slightly before stepping fully into the room, a large package by his side. 

“The others are preparing to put the infinity stones back in their proper places,” he reported, sitting down. “You did well.” Natasha smiled slightly, looking down at the bandages that swathed her arm and neck. 

“I did what I had to. For all of us,” she said. They sat in silence for a few moments before Natasha spoke again. 

“I’m sorry about Emilia… I didn’t know her, but she seemed like a good person. SHe sacrificed a lot.” Mestin nodded. 

“We’d been friends for over two hundred years,” he said. “On Enexion the aging process is much slower than on Earth. For every ten years an Earthen human ages, we would age one,” he explained upon seeing Natasha’s disbelieving expression. “Emilia was my best friend, both Silven and I’s, actually. We’d been friends since the beginning of our training. She knew what it meant to sacrifice. What it took to win a war. That’s why I know that she’s at peace. Wherever she is, she’s at peace,” Mestin said before holding out the large package. 

“What’s that?” Natasha asked curiously. 

“Yours,” he replied. With her good hand, Natasha slowly peeled back the rappers to see Emilia’s sword. The hilt was still cracked and the blade was lined with scorches, but it was still good. “On Enexion it is custom for a warriors weapon to go to the one who avenges their death. That would be you,” he explained. 

“I- thank you,” Natasha said. Mestin only nodded before leaving the room to go and talk with the others from Enexion about what their next step was. 

~

Pepper watched as Morgan examined peter’s Iron Spider suit, the junior Avenger sitting calmly and letting her explore, already having assured Pepper that nothing dangerous could be activated unless Peter gave Karen the direct order to activate it. 

“She likes him,” Rhodey noted, sitting beside her. 

“She likes all of them,” Pepper replied. “Tony was right when he said they’d get along. They seem like they’ll be good influences.” Rhodey hummed in agreement as he watched Morgan scrambled onto Peter's back to get a closer look at the metal spider legs protruding from his shoulders. 

“I don’t want him to be Ironman anymore,” she confessed. “Before it was different; it was only me he’d be hurting when he got hurt or possibly killed, and that I could live with. Now though… I know what it’s like to lose someone. I don’t want her to have to know as well,” Pepper admit quietly. 

“I don’t think he does either,” Rhodey said. “For you, for her, for Stephen and the juniors, I think he’s ready to be done.” 

“I hope so,” Pepper said. 

~

Tony’s entire side felt numb when he woke up. He was lying in a hospital bed from the smell of it, and his guess was only confirmed when he opened his eyes. He tried to turn his head but found the task almost impossible. 

“Hurng,” he said in an attempt to speak. He heard a rustling sound beside him in response and then felt a hand lightly touch his shoulder. 

“Tony? Are you with us?” asked a familiar voice. 

“Steph-” Tony began, breaking off in a fit of coughing. 

“Yeah, it’s me. You’re alright,” Stephen said reassuringly as Tony’s coughing slowly died down. “You should take it easy with the talking, you’ve been out of it for two weeks now,” the sorcerer said. “Peter’s barely left except to spend some time with his aunt, and the other juniors have been checking in at regular intervals,” he informed him. Pepper’s brought Morgan in a few times, but we all decided that it would be best to keep her away for a bit.” Tony forced his head to obey him and nodded his thanks. He didn’t want to scare Morgan with his current state. 

“You’re lucky to have survived,’ Stephen commented, forcing his voice not to crack. “We thought we’d lost you for a while,” Tony said nothing for a few minutes. 

“How’s Nebula and Nat? “He questioned, voice still scratchy and hoarse. 

“They’re fine. Natasha’s been up for a while now, and Nebula’s been in and out for a while, but gained full consciousness yesterday.” Tony sighed in relief. 

“Why didn’t you see that happening in your vision, doc?” he asked and Stephen sighed. 

“In the future I saw, Enexion was not present. Emilia Corvell wasn’t there to turn into Natasha and so Natasha wasn’t there to help you take the power of the stones, and Nebula’s confrontation with her past self took much longer so she wasn’t there either. It was just you taking the power of all the stones yourself,” Stephen explained, clutching Tony’s hand. 

“Well, that’s… that’s rough,” Tony said finally. “How are the others?” he asked, changing the topic. 

“Well Peter is currently with Morgan, Pepper, and Rhodey and I’m pretty sure the other juniors are heading over there as well. The Avengers are working on how to return the other stones and the sorcerers are trying to destabilize the Earth. Our friends from Enexion are currently discussing what should be down when they all head back. Most have already returned, but Mestin, Silven, and Jax are sticking around for a bit longer.” 

“We should hold a funeral,” Tony said. “For Emilia. None of this would have been possible had t been the real Natasha that was thrown over that cliff on Vormir.” Stephen nodded. 

“I’ll let the others know.” He made no move to get up though, and Tony was grateful for that. 

~

“You sure this is going to work?” Sam asked, looking untrustingly at the machine. Steve gave him a reassuring smile. 

“Of course it is. It already has once,” he said. “Besides, we don’t have much of a choice. If we don’t return these stones back to their proper places in time than all of those timelines are forfeit,” he said. Bucky gave him a small smile. 

“Well, good luck captain,” Sam said, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“Thanks, Sam,” he said, returning the gesture before turning to Bucky. 

“Don’t do anything stupid till get back,” he said. 

“How can I,” the other soldier said, eyes downcast. “You’re taking all the stupid with you.” he took a deep breath and headed over to the machine. He had tried to talk to Tony before coming out to put all the stones back but had been met by Peter and Frost, neither hero keen on letting him pass. In the end, he had left without seeing Tony, and he had a feeling that Tony would have wanted it that way had he been awake. With one last glance at Bucky and Sa, Steve was off into the Quantum Realm. 

 

Bucky and Sam waited, the latter growing more agitated with every passing second. After a full thirty seconds passed, Sam shook his head. 

“He should be back by now,” he said. “What’s going on?” Sam demanded. 

“I don’t know,” Bruce replied, examining the machine. “He should be-” he cut himself off though, something by the lake catching his eye. 

“Sam, over there,” he said, gesturing to where an old man said looking out over the water on a wooden bench. Sam slowly walked forward until he was beside the man on the bench. 

“Hey Sam,” he said. 

“Steve,” Sam greeted, making the other man smile. “I take it you returned the stones?” Steve sighed and nodded. 

“Yup. I put them all back, ran into Red Skull on Vormir which was definitely a shock, but it didn’t pose any problems. Then, when I finished up, I decided I wanted to hang around for a bit.” 

“So, no more Captain America?” he asked. 

“Well, not quite,” Steve replied, opening a large package at his feet to reveal the shield in all its glory. “It’s yours now,” he said. “Hopefully you’ll do better by it than I ever did,” he added, a sad shadow reflecting in his eyes. 

“So… you wanna tell me about her?” Sam asked, catching sight of the golden wedding band on Steve’s finger. Steve looked back out of the lake and smiled. 

“Nah,” he said. Sam looked up at the sound of footsteps behind him and turned to see an old man with long hair and a metal arm standing behind him, and gold band on his finger. 

“Hello Sam,” Bucky said. Sam stared blankly at him. 

“How do you-” 

 

“I explained it to him,” Steve cut in. After I returned to the forties I had my dance with Peggy and then went and freed Bucky,” he said. 

“After everything Hydra through at me, time travel didn’t seem too unbelievable,” Bucky added. 

“So this is it, then,” Sam said. Steve nodded. 

“It’s for the best. The Avengers were never going to be able to move forward as long as we were there. Tony knew it, and so did I. If the rumors I heard before going back were true he plans on retiring, and we all know that there was nothing for me to go home to in 2023.” Sam nodded. With everything that Steve had done; the heroics in World War Two and the atrocities of the Civil War, Sam still thought that he deserved a bit of peace in the end. 

~

“Tony, no,” Pepper said firmly. 

“Why not?” The iron hero demanded, crossing his arms. Had he not been pouting in a hospital bed, he would have looked far more intimidating. 

“Because that’s not how it works, Tony,” Stephen said in exasperation. “Nebula is a grown woman and not even a resident of this planet. You can’t adopt her!” the sorcerer supreme said, at his wits end with the conversation. Tony continued to pout. 

“But she was raised by fucking Thanos,” he stressed. “And Morgan already sees her as a big sister.” 

“Mr. Stark, I think Dr. Strange is right,” Peter said, walking in. “I mean, can’t she just stay with you?” Tony sighed dramatically. 

“Fine. I will be bringing this back up, though,” he promised. 

“We know. Believe me, we know,” Stephen grumbled. They all looked up hen Natasha walked in. 

“Hello Agent Romanoff,” Tony said. 

“Tony,” she replied. “I see that you’re awake.” 

“I see that you’re walking. That’s good,” Tony said. “Nice sword, he added, catching sight of Emilia’s blade. 

“Mestin gave it to me. It seems that I got off easier than you and Nebula,” she stated. Tony sighed. 

“Yeah, it’s about as bad as it looks. I’m thinking of making some sort of covering for my arm, and I’m already planning Nebula’s replacement. I can make something for you as well and make it match… We can be the Infinity Squad! It’ll be great!” he declared. 

“How much pain medicine are you on again?” Natasha asked, and Tony looked offended. “I’m kidding. I just came by to let you know that Morgan and Nebula are coming by.” Tony lit up. 

“My daughters are here!” 

“For the last time, ONLY ONE OF THEM IS YOUR DAUGHTER!” Stephen said in exasperation. 

“Sure…” Tony said slyly, making Stephen and Pepper roll their eyes. With that, Morgan came bursting into the room, pushing pass Natasha’s legs and jumping onto Tony’s bed. 

“Daddy! Daddy! Nebula taught me how to play paper football!” she said excitedly. 

“Your daughter is quite skilled,” Nebula said, entering the room as well. “I have been beaten.” Morgan grinned and wrapped her arms around Tony’s shoulders before pulling back slightly. 

“Daddy, where’s your ring?” she asked, grabbing his hand and staring in confusion at his finger. Tony looked down in confusion to find that Morgan was right; the ring was gone. 

“Stephen! The ring is gone! Do you think someone stole it? Maybe some dark sorcerer or-” Stephen’s laugh cut him off. 

“Thanks a lot, Morgan, I had a whole night planned,” Stephen whispered playfully, and Morgan giggled. 

“Stephen?” Tony asked in confusion. 

“I- uh, I assume that you’re aware that the ring could only be taken out of the wards by the sorcerer supreme?” he questioned. Tony thought back to his conversation with Stephen’s predecessor and nodded, a realization slowly dawning on him. 

“You were already planning on giving me that ring, weren’t you?” Tony asked. 

“You wouldn’t believe how long he was trying to get up the courage to do it,” Clea called from the hallway where she and Wanda definitely weren’t listening in with Wong. 

“We had to deal with his conflict every day!” Wong added. Stephen put his head in his hands. 

“I hate all of you!” he called back. Nebula snickered and Pepper picked her up off of Tony’s lap. 

 

“We’ll give you some space,” she said, patting Stephen reassuringly on the shoulder. “Peter, come on, you can ship them later,” she said, forcefully dragging Peter out of the room with Nebula right behind. Stephen sighed. 

“This is not how I imagined this going down,” he said. Tony smiled. 

“Given that it’s me your with, I’m surprised you didn’t see it coming,” he replied. Stephen sighed again. 

“Well then I’m guessing you’ve figured out why I took the ring back, and why I had it in the first place,” he said. 

“Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good idea,” Tony replied. “So I’m telling you now that if I don’t have that ring on my finger in thirty seconds, I’m gonna lose it,” he added. He smiled as Stephen rolled his eyes and pulled the ring out of his pocket, and he heard Peter say something excitedly from the hallway. Stephen narrowed his eyes and closed the binds with a flick of his wrist, much to the annoyance of everyone outside. 

“ I love you,” Tony said. 

“I love you too.” 

~

They all stood at the lakeside, the heroes from Enexion at the front of the group along with Natasha and Carol as they mourned the death of Emilia Corvell. Each person placed a flower on her shield which floated lazily in the water, and the Avengers stepped back to let those who had known Emilia have a few moments to themselves. 

“Frost, shouldn’t you be up with the others?” Wanda asked upon seeing the winter spirit approaching. 

“I have already paid my respects. It would be cruel of me to take time from the others,” he stated. 

“I imagine you’ll be heading back to Enexion now?” she asked, but Frost shook his head. 

“Though I know that it is what the others wish, it is not something that I am willing to do. Too much has happened there since I left, and Oliver’s home is here. I have agreed to keep in contact this time, though, and so it will have to be enough for them.” Wanda nodded, content. “With Rogers and Barnes in the state they are now, and Tony retiring, what is to become of the Avengers,” he asked. Wanda shrugged. 

“I imagine that the team leaders will be stitched up, and Riri will take Tony’s place as the main iron fighter. She’s technically an adult, so her training in the Junior Avengers program was always meant to be quicker than the others. More of just an integration technique,” Wanda replied. 

“Do you think you’ll return to the field?” Frost asked. Wanda considered his words for a moment before shaking her head. 

“Not yet. I want to finish more of my training first. I’m still not completely confident that I won’t lose control again. I don’t want a repeat of Lagos.” Frost nodded before heading over to talk to Tony, who had an arm around Stephen and a hand on Nebula’s shoulder. 

Wanda headed inside with the other Junior Avengers and watched as Harley and Peter bickered over something involving a potato gun, and Gina began serving drinks. Wanda felt her chest tighten at the way the other android reminded her of Vision, but she pushed it down. Though the mind stone was gone, Tony had told her that there might still be a way to restore Vision as his body had been stored in Shuri’s lab after the dusting, no one sure what to do with it. He had warned her that it had a very low chance of success, but Wanda held out hope. 

Tony looked around at the assembled heroes. As he and Frost discussed the designs for a ship that would be able to take those from Enexion back home without having to use the Nox, Nebula drifted away and was now engaged in a game of paper football with Morgan. Peter and Harley were still arguing about the potato gun, and Natasha was talking to Steve and Bucky. While Tony wasn’t going to particularly miss either, he knew that they meant a lot to the other Avenger. 

“Mr. Stark!” Peter called, him and Harley running over. “Mr. Stark, what do you think about the new potato design? Harley thinks his is better, but mine is far more efficient,” he said. 

“It is not!” Harley shot back indignantly. Tony chuckled. 

“Alright, bring it here,” he said. The two boys grinned and Tony smiled as they hurried over to the closest table and lay out their designs. Yeah, Tony thought, the Avengers would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos, I really wanna see what you guys think of this! ;)


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